Safe & Sound
by C.Peace
Summary: Echo Ivy, District 7, is part of an army group called the Elites. The Elites are made up of two kids from each District to fight on the Capital's side in case of another rebellion. All the other Elites also happen to be his best friends. When the reaping for the 55th Hunger Games comes, Echo is chosen as tribute. What is even stranger is that all the other Elites are tributes too.
1. Chapter 1

_Safe & Sound_

Chapter 1

We all stand for the Anthem of Panem. We stand through the history of our country and how "wonderful" it is. Ever since the reaping three years ago, I bear total and complete hatred towards the Capital, and it's politicians. We all sit down, because the Escort, Seran Arrow, is about to begin this horrible ceremony. She stands on tall shoes that make it look like it's harder for her to walk. Her wood brown mini dress tops a longer dark green one. Her hair is down and it practically looks like a sheild. She always dresses like a crazy tree, in honor of the tributes that have died under her watch. She pulls out a name from the girl's bowl and then the boy's bowl. While she does this I have a horrible flashback to the reaping three years ago. In that reaping the name for the girls belonged to one of two of my bestfriends, Venice. She was sent up, and before Seran could read the name for the boys, my other best friend volunteered to be the boy tribute of District 7 to help protect Venice. I return to this point in time and she is about to randomly chose which envelope to open first, the boys or the girls.

She grabs the envelope, kisses it, and says "May the odds be ever in your favor!". She opens it, and she nods. "Echo Ivy!" The whole square goes silent and turns to me. I'm not worried one bit about the Hunger Games, not after all the training I've recieved, if anything this is really unfair to the other District tributes. I get up off my seat and walk up to the stage. The Peacekeepers don't bother to guard me on the way up, they know I'll go without a fight. I don't know what to say about the girl who gets chosen.

"Ladies, you next!", she says and looks over to the side with the girls in it. She studies the card and then smirks. "Clair Orchid...", she says. I know this name, and the odd of me winning have just became 22 out of 24.

"Wait!", someone yells out in the crowd of girls everyone turns. "I volunteer!" I scan the area for the idiot who just volunteered to be sent to their death. I look and there is a circle of girls around one who stands up off her seat. Sestra! She runs up to the stage and climbs up to the stage and yells out again, "I volunteer as tribute!". My odds just droped from 22 to 0 out of 24. I couldn't kill my(figurative) little sister.

"Okay, we have our tributes of District 7! Echo Ivy and...Sestra Celenova!", Seran calls out the names again, as Sestra and I stand in front of everyone in District 7. I can see my father holding my mother as she weeps hysterically. My older brother next to them, he stares at us and his eyes are red with anger, because he knows he can't do anything for me now. Sestra moves in closer to me and hugs me. I'm still angry with her because of the stunt she just pulled.

Seran, our escort, moves in front of us and announces that we will now be allowed to see our visitors in the Justice Building. We are walked in while our new mentor, Akiliya Becca, talks to Seran. I walk in my room, where I will await my visitors. First it's my mom and dad, along with my little sister, Brazilia.

"We'll be rooting for you!" my mom said holding in tears.

"We'll be waiting to see you back here, don't worry if you remember everything the training has taught you, you will come back.", my dad says assuring me that I was going to make it. I hold Brazilia and cradle her in my arms, as she coos and giggles, I couldn't help but think that this would be the last time I'd ever see her. The peacekeepers pull them out and I kiss Brazilia goodbye, and the door slams. A minute of silence passes and my brothers rush in and surround me. My little brother, Leo, grabs on to me and he holds on while my older brother, Arslo, and I talk.

"You are going to be okay," he says grabbing me by the shoulders and shaking me, "as long as you use what the training taught you."

"I remember every single thing, but it's not me you should worry about me, take care of Brazilia and Leo!", as I say his name he squeezes me harder. "Leo!", I yell at him, "Listen to me. I'm probably not gonna come back..."

"Echo, he doesn't want to hear this!" Arslo stops me.

"No, he has to know!" I continue, "If I don't come back, you have to promise to take care of Brazilia, and yourself. Pay attention to everything Dad and Arslo teach you! Promise!" he nods. The poor thing is mute, doesn't talk for anything. I never knew why, and I might never will. "Arslo, when you leave, can you ask Sestra's dad to come?"

"I will, but for now good-bye, Jabberjay." he reaches over and puts his favorite necklace around my neck. It's a mockingjay in a gold circle and an arrow in its beak.

"I can't take it, it's yours." I protest.

"Think of it as a family emblem, and a district token. Plus it's good luck. I know how much you like to sing, and this little fellow represents that." I was ready to start crying and then the Peacekeepers come in and pulls them out.

"Take care of the family, both of you, I'll be back, I promise." I yell out a lie after they leave. Right after they leave my friend, Clair, walks in. She was supposed to be the girl tribute until Sestra, volunteered for the spot.

"I'm sorry, that I'm not going in with you..." she said muffling the words by covering her mouth, so I wouldn't hear that she was going to cry.

"Don't worry you couldn't do anything about it." I hug her before she starts to explode with tears. Sestra volunteered for her and I'm still mad at her. Now that she is in it, it means that I'm going to have to try to protect my dear friend with my life.

"I came to give you this, they all pitched in, they bought it as soon as you were sent in here." she says handing me a card with all my friends name on it. "They knew you wouldn't have enough time to see us all.", She was right and even right now I only have about 15 minutes left to still see people. We talk more, and she encourages me that it isn't unfair to use all the things I've been taught as an Elite. This is something we are trained in, to survive a Hunger Game. What were the chances that both Elites of District 7 would be chosen as tributes. This is absolute craziness. A couple more friends walk in after her, and we all enjoy our last conversation. "Remember, you don't have to kill anyone, you just have to survive.", Clair recounts to hug goodbye, and they all leave, only to be followed by Sestra's dad.

"I'm sorry, that your daughter volunteered to help me.", I say looking down at my feet knowing that he might be holding a grudge on me for somehow getting his daughter to face certain death.

"She did do it to protect you, but she also said that as her last wish, she doesn't want me to be angry at you. I wasn't in the first place, I know she sees you like a big brother, and that's why she did it.", he assures me that he isn't angry at me.

"I promise that she will be back, I am going to protect her, even if it means my death.", I look him in the eye. I can tell that it makes him feel better. The Peacekeepers escort him out and I'm off to the train. On the way ther I have another flashback. It was watching my friend, Joel volunteering to help Venice in the 52nd annual Hunger Games. I remember seeing him get killed on the screen in the town square. I really hope that this volunteering business won't end up like the one from three years past. Joel made the same promise to protect Venice, just like I promised to protect Sestra. Hopefully I don't fail like he did. I hope...

Chapter 2

I walk into the train station being escorted by the Peacekeepers, and the train awaits us. I step on the plate waiting for the door to open for us. I look back to see what I'm leaving behind, I see my family and friends looking at us as with despair in their eyes. The door slides open and we're hit with cool air from what Seran says is called an air conditioner. I walk in and rush to a window to see us pulling out of the station. When I reach it, my family has passed already.

I walk into my quarters for the trip to the Capital, and I practically drool over the rooms features. I haven't been in one of these trains since I was 13, when I had just been chosen to be part of a group called the Elites. They sent us to the Capital, as part of an examianation, which I passed. Two kids from each district were sent as part of it, randomly. We've had training sessions since then, but we don't go in these fancy trains anymore. It's always a hovercraft. Just thinking about being an Elite scares me. Especially what I have to do in case I'm ever chosen as a tribute in the Hunger Games. I can't even think about it, so I do anything to get my mind off of it.

I walk into the shower and spend at most twenty-five minutes. I push all the buttons that I remember using. When I come out, I smell like a whole bouquet of different flowers, and the shower is litered with dirt and pine needles that we're still left on me. They left clothes in the closet space in the room, and I don't remember that being there when I came in. Whatever. I chose a simple black shirt, and jeans. I put on the Mockingjay necklace, and head off to the dining hall. There I find Akiliya talking to Sestra, this is there first time meeting, but I've known Akiliya for a long time.

I first met Akiliya when one of my assignments as an Elite was to learn and study from a past winner. I was given Akiliya to learn with. She was the only one in her game that killed people. The careers from her games all died in a mountain explosion, which did wipe off most of the tributes. All she had was a pack and a single rope. She turned it into a lasso and used it to kill off the rest of the tributes. I also liked how she got people to believe she was a weak contendor. She used sadness, and "depression" to convince people she wasn't worth the kill.

I get to the buffet and stack my plate with so much food, yet I contained myself so I can impress our Escort, Seran. She has as much power over sponsers as Akiliya. I sit down with all them at the table, and they are talking about what we have to do to look appealing to sponsers. I've had this talk with Akiliya already so I can sit back, eat, and listen. I already know this stuff anyways. As an Elite, I'm trained in almost everything imaginable. I already planned what I want for us to wear for the presentation while I was taking shower. The pine needles were my inspiration for this.

"So what your saying is that I'll need to pretty up more than I usually do?", Sestra asks questioning it. Around District 7 no one usually "pretties" up, girls at school usually keep there hair down, or in a pony tail. I know what to do to my hair, I know that to the Capital, the bigger the better. A boy's hair is simple, spike it up, or hike it down. I'm thinking about doing something completely different.

"That's exactly what I'm saying, just ask Echo over here, he knows about it, after all he is an Elite.", Akiliya answers her pointing me out.

"An Elite?", she asks looking at me more intrested than she has ever.

"It's nothing big...", I tell her. I never really told Sestra about my Elite Status, even though I trained her with some weapons, that I keep hidden.

"Nothing big!", Seran cuts in, "Elites are something really big in the districts and even in the Capital!", she exclaims.

"Wait, what's an Elite?", Sestra asks finally.

"An Elite is someone who is knowingly being trained by the Capital, and in the event of another war, they are are used as leaders in the Capital's side. They are only 24, two from each district.", Akiliya says as if she's making me look a lot better, "We are going to use his Elite status to help us get sponsers for you two."

"It honestly is nothing, Sestra.", I say to her so she ignores it, but she keeps pushing it.

"It is something...this is what's going to keep you alive, which tribute is going to mess with an Elite!", she's overjoyed.

"I know it'll keep me alive, but what's gonna keep you alive!", I get up and slam my hands down on the table.

"What do you mean, what's gonna keep me alive, it's you who has to live, you're an Elite.", she says jumping up as well. "Am I right?", she looks around and everyone has averted there eyes to me, they want me to tell her the truth.

I sit down, and I tell her, "Sestra, Elite's are killing machines. If an Elite is ever chosen to be part of the Hunger Games, it's his or her job to win...no matter what."

"Tell her the rest...", Akiliya tells me softly.

"Tell me what?", Sestra lowers her volume.

"It's my job to kill my district partner, as long as he or she is not another Elite.", I finally say. The whole cart goes silent. Seran gets up walks over to a velvet couch and continues doing her make up. Akiliya looks down at her plate and continues to eat.

"Well, then I don't have to protect you anymore? Because as soon as you see me in the arena you'll have to kill me?", Sestra sits back down.

"No, not true, there is a loop hole.", Seran says with a smile holding back a giggle, as if we were going to thank her for her knowledge. We all look at her waiting for the answer, especially me because I really don't want to kill my figuritive little sister. "Well, if you have to know, in order for an elite to avoid killing their district partner, his or her partner has to get a score of nine or higher."

I see hope, but all she has to do is get a high score, and I've taught Sestra a couple of weapons. Iron claws, swords, and bows and arrows. "Seran! Is there anywhere on the train were we could train?", I ask her in a hurry.

"There is a cart in the back.", she answers.

"Thank you, Seran!", I hug here abruptly, grab Sestra, and I rush off to the back.

In the cart, I showed how to use her weapons. When she was able to get a hang of it, I let her go to her room to rest. As I was about to leave I spot a whip, and a thick wooden target. In no time I pull the whip out and break the target, just to see if I could still do it.

I look around for a scythe, which was the first weapon I had ever used in my life. Besides an axe, but I just used axes to cut down a tree. I cut targets with the scythe, leaving no target untouched. I go to iron claws, which are just metallic shackles that have long iron blades coming from them. I use them to finish the rest of the cut up targets. I spend more time in the back cart practicing, having fun with the weapons. I eventually look at the clock and see that it's 11 at night. I walk back to the main cart feeling accomplished. It's dark except for the lit up screen of a television. It's the re-run of the reapings in all the Districts. Right now it's just Caesar Flickerman talking about something Capital related.

Akiliya and Seran walk in from nowhere and we start watching re-runs of the reapings in other districts. It begins with District 1. Richest Wave and Crimson War. Wait I know them they're also Elites like me. District 2, Excaliber Presence and Persia Ross. _They're Elites also_. Something was definately weird. I saw the tributes continue Districts 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12. They were all Elites.

Except for Sestra, and the boy from District 11, all of them were Elites. I was scared just seeing all these people get chosen and I was glad that Sestra didn't see this. "How do you feel, Echo?", Akiliya asked knowing all the faces of the Elites.

"I feel like I'm about to have to kill 22 of my closest friends...", I say staring at the screen distantly.

Chapter 3

The announcer, Caeser Flickerman, interupted my train of thought. Seran turns it off, and tells me to go to bed "tomorrow is a really big, big, big day". I'm pretty sure that they were discussing our strategy since the old one about using my Elite status is a bust.

After my shower, I go to sleep to have a dream about all my elite friends, and especially which ones were going to fall at my hands or whip. I dream about my first day at the Elite training building at the Capital. Persia, tribute from district 2, helped me on the first Free-for-all battle, all for one and one for all in a pretend Arena. She and I teamed up when I caught her half dead of deadly poisons from a Noise Cracker. We went on to kill(knock out) 6 opponents.

It's followed by a dream of the day I met Jareda from District 4, she was amazing when it came to swinging her mace around. We met when we caught each other in our second Free-For-All. We met during a sunset at a cliff in a mountainous arena. The mace caught me offguard, I didn't expect it to come from such a beautiful girl like herself. We knocked each other out and we spent the day with each other when we were resting in the training building. I remember that at first she was mad at me for eliminating her from the game. Apparently she was trying to talk more to her District partner, she eventually told me she liked him. I told her I would make it up to her, and I was able to sneak us out of the training building, which apparently is hidden in a flower-filled plain. I can honestly say that if it wan't for her crush on Caston, I could have fallen in love with her. I guess we just weren't meant for each other.

They eventually became a couple. They lasted for about a month or two, and poof it was over. Once I had found this out, I thought I should've revisited my feelings for her, but those feelings weren't there anymore.

I woke up in a cold sweat after a nightmare of me killing Excalibar, one of the Elites I idolize. Excalibar reminds me of my own brother. Caston, from District 4, looks like my older brother, I remember the first time I saw him, I almost called out, "Arslo!", that's how much they look alike. I took a shower and went to breakfast and saw that Sestra, was looking out the window watching the scenery. It was mountainous and the train tracks went over a lake. I gave her a hug and told her, "Sestra, we're going to have to win the crowd over today, you understand that right?"

"I do!", she says hugging me back.

"We have to work together so you can win!", I say.

"I don't care if I win, you are more important than me, you have to win!"

"No! You have a lot more to live for...you have a little sister that depends on you to return, and your Father is more broken than anyone in District 7. He already lost your brother, and your Mom. That poor man doesn't deserve to lose another loved one in his life.", I tell her assertively, and she nods because she knows it's true. We start to pull into the station, I can see the crowds. I start to wave and blow kisses to them, some of them pretend to catch my kisses, and I look at Sestra to join me. She does, and she's more of a hit than I would I've thought.

I see that the other trains have pulled in and I see the tributes of all the other districts outside and I'm filled with happiness that I see all of them again since the last time we met which is about a months ago, but this time there is much more on the line. I run towards Persia and give her the biggest hug, while Sestra goes with Seran to her room.

"Persia!", I say cheering.

"Hey Jabberjay, How have you been!", she says with the same tone of voice I had.

"I'm good let's go say hi to others!", I say and we walk off to meet the tributes from Districts 11. Artimis and Jason. It turns out that Jason is Artimis' older brother, he told me that he came here to protect his little sister, and I understand why he would come.

I look around and see that Jareda from District 4 is here and she's talking to District 5's very own Issac and Derma. I look back and I see her holding hands with someone, her district partner, Caston. They're back together. I felt happy for them, and also a bit jealousy, I don't know why but I did. I disregard the feeling and keep myself in a good mood for when I talk to them right now. I walk up to Jareda, and greet them both. I hug her, and I tell Caston hello. The whole time they do not let go of each other's hand. "Echo, how have you been!", Jareda says.

"I've been great, and I can see you two are too!", I direct attention to their new relationship.

"Yeah, we are happy together. I'm happy that were happy together.", Caston says laughing. Jareda grabs Persia's hand and asks Caston for permission to go talk to someone. He allows it and turns to me. "So how have you been?", he puts his hands in his pocket. and he sounds a bit angry.

"Good, why so angry, Caston?", I ask him.

"Because I want you to stay away from Jareda.", he says in an angry hushed tone, while he grabs my wrist.

"What...why?", I say holding in the look of pain on my face.

"You know why. You like Jareda. You're the reason why we broke up in the first place.", he tightens his grip.

"What are you talking about, I don't know why you guys broke up in the first place."

"You dirty liar, I broke up with her because she cheated on me with you!"

"That's stupid. It's true I had feelings for her once but not anymore, I'm glad you guys are back together.", I say and he lets go. He's grip has strengthened since the last time I saw him.

"Sorry, I'm just really self-concious about her, since I heard you kissed her."

"On the cheek, but that was a long time ago.", he still looks suspicious. "Caston, I swear I wouldn't do anything to come in between you two, ever.", He turns back around, and I leave. I walk away and except that they are happy together, they want to remain that way, but they are in the worst place to be in love. In a fight to the death match where only one person can win. I feel depressed by the fact that not both of them could live, or I'm going to kill them.

I walk away and I pass by my own idol, Excalibar, He says hello, but I can feel so much sadness in me, I ignore him. As soon as I get to my room I start to scream my head off. I know that in this moment my anger towards the Capital. An hour later after releasing everything, I go to lunch and after I get to go get dressed for the presentation of the Tributes to the Capital. I get preped by my Prep Team, which is made up of a Andreas. A woman with purple-skin, pink teeth, and is wearing a smock covered in feathers. Harmonio, he looks like a snake with a forked tongue, and red dyed eyes, his smock is a lot more colorful, it kinda looks like the colors of a poisonous animal. Then last but not least, Calpurnia. She looks like an odd mix of the other two, she's a snake bird, with surgically implanted feathers, and redish-pink tattoos that make her look like she has scales.

They talk about upcoming social events with the rest of the other Prep teams that involves a lot of drama, or I think that's what it is. Something about someone having an affair with a married woman, and vice-versa, either way I tune them out. They are finally done and I head off to see my head designer/stylist.

Her apperance surprises me. She has surgically implanted whiskers, and other stuff to make her look like a cat, or a tiger. "Hello, I'm your head designer, Tigris.", she looks at me with her spotted eyes and says. This explains the extensive work to make her look like a "tiger". This is far beyong the Capital's beauty standard. This is what going over board in the Capital looks like.

"I'm the piece of meat you'll be designing today and for the rest of the next week, my name is Echo." I say to her as she laughs.

"You are District 7?", she asks and I nod, "Well, I have an idea of camouflage styling...what do you think?" I tell her my idea, she agrees and calls up Sestra's Stylist and they agree. I gave her my idea of anciet grecko-roman apperal, like I've read of in books about Ancient Greece. We also get to use a wreath of leaves. The plan goes that I represent the fall, with brown, orange, and a couple of green leaves. Sestra's representing spring, she'll have flowers and bright green leaves in her hair. She's going to have her hair dyed bright green and mines going to be red with yellow highlights.

While Tigris, was putting the clothes on me, I start to talk to her, "I'm sorry that I shot down your camouflague idea."

"Don't worry about it, It wasn't even my idea, why else would I ask you what you thought if I liked it. Honestly it was hideous, and I know that you Elites are also trained to know what would go together!", she laughs, and as it fades out, it turns into a purr. She finished in an hour or so, and we still have time.

"Tigris, this is better than I would've ever imagined!", I cheer. It looks like a humanly shaped tree. The drape I wear is brown, and the my hair is filled with orange autumn leaves, just for District 7, lumber. Each district has to be dressed to match what their district is leading supplier on. It shows me off more than I thought it would, it makes me look gorgeous, this is for sure to get me some sponsers.

"Oh, It's my pleasure Echo, but you can't go out there without the finishing touch.", she ties my mockingjay necklace around my neck and she blows some dirt off of it. "Now you might want to go to your platform you can socialize with the other tributes while you wait."

"Thank you again, Tigris!", I say when I hug her.

"Your welcome now let me take care of some things and I'll be in the stands watching, and remember when they announce your district untie your hair from right here.", she points it out and she sends me on my way. I feel and it's a well hidden ribbon that holds up some of the fake hair up. She says that it'll be a secret for now. When I do untie it, and if I really want to know what it is, I have to look at the screen where we will be shown. I make my way out of the room and straight into the backstage area where we will wait to be taken out and presented.

Chapter 4

I walk to my Chariot and I see that I'm the only one here except for District 2. I walk over to see that Excalibar's sitting down reading a magazine. "Oh, hey Jabberjay," he says while he puts the magazine down, "I haven't seen you in a long time, how have you been?" he stood up, and I noticed his costume. He looked like an over-exposed Peacekeeper, since he's from District 2, even though they are masonry, they're the district that supplies every district with Peacekeepers. He was just as exposed as me, and it makes me feel a little less self-concious since he seems to walk around like if he usually wears this amount of clothes.

"Oh, I've been good, and you?", I answer him.

"Wonderful, although, I think you're lying."

"What do you mean, I'm perfectly fine!", I burst out.

"I saw the despair in your eyes, and the blue feeling in your face when I passed by you. Just tell me what's wrong, Jabberjay.", he points out.

"Please! Stop calling me 'Jabberjay'!", I try to change the subject.

"Fine, Echo! Just tell me what's eating you? I'll understand if you want to keep it a secret, and if you still tell me, then I'll keep it on the down low. Just tell me.", Excalibar says, and I have to tell someone.

"Fine! I don't feel right about this Hunger Game with all the Elites. We've practiced this before, but never a real one. I need to protect my friend Sestra, so she can go home, but I also don't want to kill anyone. I know all of you guys, and your styles of fighting, and I know that I won't be able to go into this arena without having to kill one or two."

"Calm down, I won't tell anybody. Don't worry, I understand, I don't want to kill any one of you guys, either, but I have someone to go home to now. Her name is Carmenella. She's about your age. She's the best, there is no girl who can beat her." He goes on to tell of his District 2 love named Carmenella. That as soon as both their names are taken out of the reaping, he's going to marry her. I am really happy for him, I see him like an older brother, when my own isn't there, so that's why I look up to Excalibar, even though we rarely talk at all. I know that we think a lot alike, but sometimes we could be sitting next to each other, yet be a million miles apart. I hope he wins, I mean if I fail to protect Sestra and she dies, then I don't want to return home. I would probably form an allience and then when it's down to Excalibar and I, I will take myself out of the game, so he could continue on with his wedding.

More people start to arrive and I talk to District 3 tributes, Nessa and Darwin. They are some of the smartest people I know since they are from the technology district.

"Hello, Echo! How are you! It's been so long, and I would express to you my feeling of excitement to see you again, but I won't. If we were some place else, I would, but as soon as we're in the training ground we are enemies. I'm sorry, Echo!", Nessa says.

"It's okay, Nessa. As long as I know we were friends before the training.", I say and she nods. I leave them and find Sestra.

I walk over to her and she is talking to Nathine and Caitlyn, from district 6. They are both dressed like a mechanical mix of human and vehicles. The crowd starts to cheer so we are about to start. They start off with District 1-12, so we have time. "District 1!", Caesar Flickerman says. Crimson and Richest look like medieval King and Queen. "District 2!", Excalibar is trying to pump up the crowd while Persia sits down filing her nails, not caring at all. It gets the crowd to cheer more so they can get Persia's attention.

"Hey, when we're on the platform and they put the spotlight on us that's when we untie our hair.", Sestra reminds me.

"Okay.", I say, already knowing.

"My designer said that he and your designer have agreed on it."

"District 6", the announcer cheers out as well with the crowd, while District 6 is shown off. Sestra and I run onto the chariot's platform and wait to be called out, and we hold on to each other. I feel the spotlight hits us, and before Clauduis Templesmith announces us, the crowd goes wild, and then he announces us, we look out and release the tied hair and from our hair hangs glimmering extensions that reflects all the colors of our hair, and the crowd practically explodes with applause. I can see us on the monitor taking our poses and I make sure to wink and wave at people in the crowd.

I have another flashback to the day my two friends were being presented. They both looked ridiculus in big tree costumes. If they weren't in that situation they would've laughed about it, like we usually did. Every year District 7's tributes have to be dressed like trees, it's really irratating. I remember both of them hudling together, they were both scared, I can only imagine what they were thinking when they saw each other on the screen. I remember the pain of seeing them on the chariot, just like me.

I come back from my flashback and we're pulled in to the stage in front of the main building, and I watch everyone else pull in behind us. Out of everyone, I think we were the most popular. The President steps out, says his speech, the Panem anthem plays out, and we are taken back. I step off the chariot to be caught by Jareda. She looks beautiful in her mermaid costume. She was popular because of her relationship status with Caston. She told me how good I looked and that she would like to have an alliance with me when we are in the games. I told her I would think about it, but really I was going to deny her the first time I see her in the training center.

Sestra and I walk into the elevator, which is really weird for us because we never really see these back in the districts. We leave in order from 1-12. I hug everyone goodbye and that'll see them when we get the training center. When we exit the elevator Akiliya and Seran meet us at the door. They walk us to the dining room and we meet with Tigris, and Stone, Sestra's stylist, and we dine in the most biggest meal I've ever seen. Even though I'm an Elite, we don't get special treatment from anywhere, it just makes us a little bit more hated in the poorer districts in fact.

Compliments are thrown around the room, and Tigris calls attention to herself and says that the costumes were my idea, and everybody cheers. I throw back my praise saying that the hair, which was a main staple in our popularity, was the stylists idea and they should get even more praise then I. Then Stone says the hair thing was Sestra's idea, and she sits in the corner saying, "Oh stop it you!".

We all have a toast to congradulate all of ourselves, for our acting, and the stylist's styling. I enjoy the food, and for some reason this food tastes better just knowing that Sestra was going to live and go back home to her family.

If neither of us make it, I'd be fine with that. I can't return home, if Sestra died while I was protecting her. It would only give me worse flashbacks. Just being in this arena will give me the worst flashbacks ever, because I know that I'm going to have to kill someone eventually, I just hope it isn't Sestra.

Early in the morning, and I sneak out undetected from the room into the dining hall and I find that Akiliya was already sipping tea, and watching re-runs of the presentation. "Oh, Hello, Echo, where are you going without breakfast?" she asks.

I grab a plate and answer, "Nowhere, especially with this fine cuisine." I load on my plate yet have the decency to grab one napkin with a bread roll hidden inside it, for later. I gorge myself because Seran isn't around.

Akiliya asks me again. I pretend to have to much food in my mouth to answer. When she asks again I answer, "I was going up to the roof to see the sunrise."

"Echo, why do you want to see the sunrise?", she asks.

"Akiliya, you of all people should know why I want to see it.", she looks at me confused, "Since my name was called out in the reaping I've learned to appreciate smaller things, and the sunrise is something small. I've been watching it a lot lately. It reminds me that I might not see beautiful things anymore. It also reminds me of me. It's as bright as my own hope to survive these games, or to at least save Sestra and die doing it.", she looks me in the eyes and says I'm free to go.

Chapter 5

I walk into the elevator and I travel up to the top, and I see a edge where I can sit. I sit down and I notice I'm not alone. I turn to the greenhouse and I see movement from inside, I go in and ask, "Is anybody in here?", no answer, I turn around and I hear a pot fall and shatter. I turn around to see that it was Derma from District 5. Poor thing stares at me like if she was a deer standing in front of a train.

"Hi, Derma.", I say, "Come on and join me. I was about to watch the sunrise. I walk over to the ledge and sit down and I see sunrays shoot up from the horizon. I notice that Derma, without making any noise, already made her way over to my side and looked down really scared. "Derma, It's okay, if you fall you bounce right back, remember how strong the forcefields are.". It seems to calm her down. I pull out the napkin I hid and I take the bread roll from it, and hand it to her.

She takes it and eats to her hearts content, "Thank you, Echo!", she says happily.

"No problem," a comfortable silence takes over and I continue, "Isn't it beautiful, Derma, the sunset. How much it shines. It's hard to believe to another planet our sun is just a distant star?" She nods wispfully. "I continue on looking at this momentues glory and makes me think that I'm never going to see it after next week.", I say and let the sunlight get soaked into my skin.

"Echo, what do you mean that after next week you'll never see it again, don't you plan on winning?", she finally says.

I nod and say, "No, not one bit, I couldn't live in a world where I had to kill my friends, besides I'm gonna live up until Sestra is the winner, and then I can close my eyes, take in my last breath, and just slip away.", I finish and she looks at me sadly. "What's the matter, Derma?".

"I can't live in a world like this either, but I know that I have to get back to my mom, I'm practically all she has. Don't you think it's selfish for someone to sacrifice themselves for someone else. I mean you have family that wants you to get back home."

"That's right, Derma, but my family has everything they need, they won't miss me as much as Sestra's dad is gonna miss her. She's all he has too."

"But it's still wrong, we still want to see you again, we don't want you to die in the arena. We love you, and it's your responsibility to live. I'm planning to survive the three days with Nathine, you and Sestra can join us."

"Derma what are you talking about we're going into a fight to the death where only...", she looks at me and her eyes are filled with honest innocence. She really doesn't know that only one of us is going too survive. She must think this is just another free-for-all, where many people can win as long as they pass the three-day criteria. I find that I should explain to her what's really going on. "Derma, do you know how the Hunger Games work?"

"Yes, they give us three days, and everyone who makes it the end of the last day wins. That's why I made a plan, that if we..."

"Derma, that's a free-for-all, this is the Hunger Games. These two things are different. In the free-for-alls we don't get hurt, but here, we can die."

"No, I know, but my plan is for everyone to drop their weapons and be at a stand-still until the last day is done. That way we can all go home."

"Derma! That's not how it works. There isn't a time limit here, we die when we die!", I yell and her eyes get bigger. "There is only one winner out of 24. They would never allow more than one person to win. If we don't kill each other, then they will. I would rather you all fall at my hands, than to a bunch of evil Capital people who pitted us against each other in the first place."

I look at her and she's scared, and she's about to cry. She is to innocent to be thrown into an arena with all her friends. She didn't even know that only one of us can live. I close my eyes and I continue, "Derma, I'm sorry. I thought you had the right to know."

"No, you're right, Echo. I have to stop being so naive. I knew how this worked, but I was just hoping it was just a game. That as soon as we're in the Arena, Psy's(our Elite trainer) voice came on and told us that we just have to complete the three day free-for-all."

"Just a game...", I think about it. "I know a song named 'Just a Game'. Don't worry Derma, if things go wrong, then I'll make things right, and then you'll have more of a chance of winning then me. Just be thankful for all the days you have with Nathine." I open my eyes and I look to find that Derma is gone. Someone who could be that quite even when she's really close, will be a worthy adversery to me. I go back to the the 7th floor, take a shower, and I get dressed and ready for the training.

When Sestra and I get down to the training floor, the instructor tells us the rules and sends us to training. The problem is that Sestra's trying everything she hasn't been taught and she's making herself look like prey to everyone else. "Sestra, what are you doing? Keep it up and you'll be the first one to go down in the games."

"Sorry, I just wanted to see if I could do all these other things.", she whispers to me.

"Well stop it, show them that you're not completely weak, there are axes over in that station, show them what you've got.", She walks over to the station, with everyone's eyes on her she picks up an two axes. She throws it and it gets the rubber dummie, in the neck nearly severing it off the fake body. Now she has everyone's attention. She moves on to the other stations and I start to pay attention to others.

Crimson and Richest are sword fighting and both of them are really good. Excalibar is hitting moving targets left and right by throwing knives. Persia and Derma are doing the same with arrows. Nathine is piercing fake bodies with spears. Caston and Jareda are learning how to camouflague. They both play around and paint each other, laughing and giggling. I already know their strengths though. Jareda's got her mace, and Caston can use a pair of iron claws to polverise wooden targets into tooth picks.

Darwin and Nessa are sticking together with traps. Depending on the arena, Darwin can turn a normal wire, into an electrical trap. I remember he taught me how when we were in our second free-for-all. Issac is tossing 100 pound weights around like nothing. I look over to see Artimis is using poison darts and Jason is using a barrier shield. A gigantic shield that could be used to crush things and to protect yourself. Then I notice that people are still waiting for me to do something so I look on the weapons wall, for my weapon of chose, a bullwhip. It's exterior was leather, but the inside was flexible steel, strong enough to make marks in boulders. I pick it up and I walk over to a target station. I crack it once and destroy one, crack it again and make a slash mark across a tree they have for climbing, and everyone looks in awe. We all have something special, but nobody has ever seen my full potentiel with a whip.

Days go by and I figure out that Juno, Urwin, and Jenten are really good trappers. Caitlyn doesn't seem to do anything, but I've seen her throw knives before, so I know not to take her for granted. The day to work for our final scores is finally here. We perform in front of the gamemakers, and get scored from one to twelve. The higher the number the more likely you are to succeed, but it also makes you a target in the arena.

Excalibar comes out looking accomplished which worries me. It came for Sestra's turn and she told me she was going to try to impress them with the axes. When she was done she hurried to the elevator without even a glance toward me. I walk in to the main room where all the gamemakers sit and watch. "State your name, age, and continue with whatever your going to do.", the head gamemaker asks.

"Echo Ivy, 16, and I will need targets for whipping.", I say to them. He presses a button and targets pop up from out of nowhere. I pull the whip quickly from the rack. I crack the whip one way break a target and use it to destroy another one. I whip it everywhere and I can hear wood being destroyed. I felt that I was getting a good score, until I was disrupted by the gamemaker's "thank you", and a little bit of applause. I walk out, and I go back to the room and I await my score.

I pass by all the following District tributes, and I wish them good luck. I walk to the elevator, but I'm stopped by District 12's tributes, Juno and Jenten. "How'd you do in there!", Juno asks me.

"It went good. I think."

"Don't worry, you'll probably get a higher score than us.", Jenten laughs.

"Thanks you two, but I should be getting back, bye. Break a leg!", I say as I walk away from them. Once inside I press the button four on accident. I press seven right after so I don't have to make the stop at District 4's floor, but the elevator sends me there anyways. At the door for District 4, stands Jareda and her District 4 mentor, Mags. Jareda waves me in, but I deny. The elevator door doesn't close quick enough so she pulls me in.

"Echo, meet my District mentor, Mags. Mags this is Echo, from District 7."

"Hello.", I say to her, she returns the greeting and leaves. Mags looks like she's been in a lot of traumatic situations. I remember Jareda told me about her though. She was a powerful swimmer, and can make a fish hook out of anything. I 'm not sure which year she won, I think it was the 7th or the 13th annual Hunger Game.

"How'd you do?", Jareda turns to me and says.

"I'm not sure, I'm hoping I did good."

"I know I did great. You wanna know what I did?", she says. We're not supposed to know what the others did, due to the fact that that would be an unfair advantage but I already know wht her skill was. Before I can answer she tells me, "I did sword play!"

"Oh, that's new."

"I know, what did you do?"

"I used the whip like I usually do. Of course I'm going to need the whip in the arena. Hopefully, they give me a strong resiliant one."

"Well, of course, you wouldn't want to disappoint your ex-girlfriend.", she laughs. We talk a bit more, and after I decide to leave. I finally get to my floor, and release the breathe I've been holding in since I got into the elevator on the fourth floor.

Later that night, we all gathered in the Television room, and we anticipated the scores for District 7. It came on starting with Sestra's score. "Sestra Celenova...9", the announcer, Claudius Templesmith, says. I was so relieved because that meant I didn't have to kill her. Then came mine "Echo Ivy...11".

Chapter 6

I could not believe I got an eleven. I usually get an 8 or 7 when our Elite Leaders scores us in our free-for-all training. Except for Trenton from District 8, and Crimson from District 1, I was the only one who got an 11. The smallest score came from Clydessa from District 9, she got a score of 5. Persia, Excalibar, Alex(9), Kessie(10), Nathine, and Caitlyn got 10. The boy tribute from District 1, Richest, got 8. Artimis got 8 while her brother, Jason, got 9. Everyone else got a score of 6-10.

The room was filled with cheers, everyone comemerated Sestra and I for our scores. Now is where it gets a little bit more difficult. We have to find out what our strategy is, and then we have to ace our interviews with Ceaser Flickerman in front of all Panem so we can get sponsers. "We'll tomorrow is going to be really big, in winning the games, so we'll have to take night hours to talk about the strategy." Akiliya gets my attention and answers my question of when we were going to strategize before I even asked it.

"Well, can I go leave my district token in my room first?", Akiliya nods and Sestra is on her way. Her district token isn't like mine, it's something her father made her in his carpentry shop back in District 7. When she returns we continue our meeting. "Okay, so number one thing is to find a resource to sustain you for the rest of the games. We don't know what type of field they are going to give you so you have to be careful with everything. Remember don't step off your plate until the gong rings out."

"Or what?" Sestra interupts Akiliya.

"Or you'll get blown into itty bitty pieces!", she answers quickly. She continues "Water is a main thing, do either of you know how to hunt?", she asks and both our hands go up. "Well, make sure, when you run for the Cornucopia, to grab a knife, your weapon of choice, and a supplies backpack.", she says ending our meeting, and sends us off to bed. "Remember tomorrow, is where we will train you seperately for the interview, so get some sleep and be prepared for tomorrow."

I walk Sestra to her room and hug her goodnight, but it could also possibly be goodbye, because two days from now well be running in arena trying to survive. In my room I do last minute showering and prepping, so the prep team wouldn't be so troubled. I go to sleep and have a dream where Persia and I are allies again in the first free-for-all.

"You think you're going to like being a war leader?", she asks with her arrow positioned to kill a rabbit for our lunch.

"I'm not sure how I feel about it, and you? What do you think?", I ask her.

"I honestly don't love it, my whole life I hated the Capital for sending my sister into the games. She died on the first day in a fight near the cornucopia."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be, it's the Capital's fault, not yours.", she shoots the arrow and gets the rabbit clean through the eyes.

"Do you ever feel like they chose us to be Elites for a reason, Persia?", I asked her.

"I kind of do, I think almost everyone here has lost someone they loved to the games."

"That's possibly true, but I don't get why they didn't chose my brother to come. He lost five of his friends in the games. I lost my two closest friends to the most recent one though."

"Well, I'm glad they didn't chose your brother. The way you describe him he sounds like a real jerk. If they had chosen him, then I would've never met anyone as smart as you, or as ticklish as you!", she says poking my stomach and laughing. That was the day I knew I could always depend on Persia.

Akiliya wakes me up, and tells me to go with Tigris so I could get dressed and then get ettiqute training. I walk into the room and get rushed by my Prep team. They are so weak minded it's laughable. I wonder if it has ever crossed their pea-sized minds that they are just dressing me so I can get killed. I hear them talking about me being Tigris' last tribute to adorn. "You know that, you are the last person to get worked on by Tigris?" Harmonio asks me.

"No, I didn't, why, is she getting fired...or quitting?", I repeat the thought in my head.

"She's getting fired.", Andreas said.

"Why?", I say sadly. Out of everyone I've meet here in the Capital, Tigris seemed like the only logical, kind-hearted person. "Does she go overboard with costumes when she's not supposed to?"

"No, It's because she's getting...old, President Snow said that everyone has to be young and beautiful to represent how beautiful the tributes are, or something like that.", Calpurnia answers.

"How old is she?"

"She's thirty-five!", Andreas exclaims, and Calpurnia gasps. Only in the Capital can you get fired for being thirty-five.

"If we get fired at thirty-five, then I've only got two years left!", Calpurnia says, and decide to complement her.

"Really, you don't look a day over twenty-two!", I say. This makes her blush and Harmonio laughs.

"Yeah she doesn't look a day over twenty-two...thousand!", he laughs and so do I. Once they're done with the prepping I get up off the table and I thank them for everything and I say I hope to see them in the distant future. As I'm about to walk out the door, Harmonio stops me. "Here give this to Tigris,", he hands me a card, "we don't have the heart to give it to her in person...and good luck out there kid!"

"Thank you!", I say as some of them shed a tear. I hug them all to show them I don't hate them(entirely). I walk down the hall into Tigris' room. There she is with her face buried in her hands weeping.

"Tigris, I'm here." I say quietly. I put the card down on a table and we get started. She has a whole thing with my hair again, she start putting things in there. I'm dressed in a brown suit with a bright green shirt and vest. My hair is back to normal, but she said that she concealed some glimmering stuff in there so I have to shake it a little.

I'm about ready to leave, but I remember the card. I take it off the table and hand it to her. She opens it and I could see her spotted eyes go left to right, and she starts to cry again. I give her big hug and tell her that she has done well over the years, and that she has done her job well today because the District 7 tributes are going to win. She calms down and starts "Echo, you are one of the best tributes I have ever had the honor to work with. Good luck out there, Echo, and don't forget to shake your hair!"

I walk out and everyone is in their seats already, we are about to begin the interviews. Caesar Flickerman steps out and the crowd cheers. I've been in front of a crowd this big only once. When all the Elites were to protect the winner of the Hunger Games three years ago, but this time we have to talk. He goes on with a couple of jokes to warm up the crowd. Then he tells us that girls first and then boys, and in order of our districts.

Crimson goes up first, her gold dress shines in the spotlight. She has a whole competion with Caeser about whose hair is softer. Richest goes up and he's so nervous he barely talks, but he does tell everybody what he's going to be trying to get as soon as he's in the arena. A pair of iron claws is his choice. Persia goes up and the silver black dress does wonders for her. Caeser asks, "So, a pretty young girl like you must have a boyfriend, am I right?", the crowd goes balistic at this question.

She answers, "Yes, I do, he is from District 2. His name is Morson, and I'm going to win this to go home and see him!", the crowd awes for a moment, and Persia and I have locked in eyes, I can tell that she's doing this so she can get people on her side. This "Morson" probably doesn't even exist. I've known her long enough to expect this from her. Excalibar is next and he tells the story of his future fiancee, Carmenella. He gets a little bit more people on his side. District 3 interviews blow past, and then Caeser announces District 4, and this one is a suprise to me.

"Okay, now moving on to District 4, but can I have them both come up here!", Caeser says and Jareda and Caston both walk up hand in hand. "You two are an item, am I right!", he asks and they nod. "How long have you two been together?"

"11 months!", answers Caston.

"Actually, we've been together for 1 month, but we've had feelings for each other long before!", Jareda points out.

"That's adorable! Caston here includes the months you weren't even together!", Caeser cheers. The crowd is hooked. Now it's my job to get these people on to my side right after them. "Well, going into a game where only one can come out alive what is your strategy?"

"We aren't entirely sure, I know that I want her to win.", Caston says.

"And I want him to win!", Jareda says ready to cry.

"I'm gonna get the iron claws to protect Jareda from any attacker."

"And I'm going to get my mace and bury it in anyone who tries to touch him.", she says making it sound like a warning. She was never really good at threats. I laugh a little louder than I thought I would've and they turn to look at me. The rest of the tributes turn and also smile a bit.

"Well, I wish you both the best of luck...", Caesar says. "Ladies and Gentlemen the tributes of District 4, Caston Segwada and Jareda Asleen!" the crowd cheers.

Everyone goes by quick, then it's Sestra's turn. "Sestra Celenova, come on up!" Caesar yells out with joy. "Sestra, how are you doing?"

"I'm fine and you?", she answers sweetly. The green short dress she's wearing is shining in the limelight she's in right now.

"Good, good, so you volunteered when they called out your friend's name in the reaping?"

"Yes I did, I came on my own because I owe Echo one, so while I'm here I'm going to protect him.", she says with a lot of confidence in her voice. They go on a small banter and he finally comes to the final question.

"And what's your strategy going into the games?"

"I plan on getting my hands on axes, getting Echo out of the bloody Cornucopia fight, and letting the other Tributes eliminate each other in order to protect Echo."

"Well your times up, so I wish you the best of luck, and I hope you succeed, Ladies and Gentlemen, Sestra Celenova!", crowd cheers and then pause and I hear my name. "Echo Ivy, you're next!"

Chapter 7

I put on my best smile and climb up the steps. "Hello, Nature!", he says mocking me, for the costume on the first day.

"Hello Annoncer man!", I joke around, and I get the crowd to laugh. I don't really understand why, but I take it as a win.

"Oh, well that was an astonishing splash you made during the presentation last week!", they show me up on the monitor, and I have to smile.

"Yes, but I couldn't have done it without my stylist, Tigris!", She stands up in the crowd, and takes a bow while a couple of people clap. I'm not kidding at least one couple clapped. I shake my hair because I remember that's what Tigris told me to do.

"Whoa! What was that?", Caesar cheered and clapped.

"What was what?", I say like I didn't know.

"Your hair just glimmered! Shake your hair again!", he cheered me on.

_Hookline and sinker_, I thought, "Okay!", I shook my hair and the crowd went crazy with excitment, and I could hear my name being hollered out. I stood up and made sure everyone in the stands surrounding us got some, including the tributes. Once I look down I can see that different colored petals are falling out of my hair. I could hear people whistling, and shouting, and just have a heart attack of fun. I would do more but I felt dizzy.

"Wow, was that Tigris' idea?"

"Yes it was!"

"Wow, Tigris, take a a bow!", she does, and this time everyone cheers, and I see that she wipes a tear off her face. "Now on to more important matters!", he calms down the audience, "What is your strategy?"

"I can honestly say it's to stay alive, until the final two, where I will sacrifice myself to send that girl home!" I say pointing at Sestra.

"Ah, I see the both of you are allies from the beginning."

"Yes, we are, she's like my little sister, and she has so much riding up on this game."

"Like?"

"Well, personal things."

"I understand, what weapon are you going to use!"

"This might seem a little strange, but I am diving for a whip." I was correct, it did sound odd. The audience looks at each other, confused, so I decided to turn it into a joke. "Yeah, my ex-girlfriend says that I was really good when it came to the whip!" the crowd loses it and tears are streaming from every eye.

"Oh, my, well you are delightful! I hope you succeed in all your plans and may the odds be ever in your favor, now give the crowd what they want! Ladies and Gentlemen, Echo Ivy!", while he finishes his last line, I shake my hair vigorously, to release the petals all over. I step down and find that some people who worked to get people on their side have just lost them to me, hopefully no one shows me up...no one does.

The ceremony is soon over, and we are allowed to go back to our rooms, to get ready for tomorrow. I say good-bye for the last time to some people and we get to our room.

"Are you ready for tomorrow?", Sestra asks me.

"I am prepared, and you?", I question her.

"I feel ready to kill anyone who tries to hurt you, Echo."

"Sestra, I don't want you to try and protect me, these people are Elites like me, we're meant to be able to kill anyone."

"You've showed me enough and I already know what some of their weaknesses are, for example, Crimson can barely toss a spear because of her back problems."

"Sestra, we Elites are world renouned actors, we are trained for everything even tricking our opponents."

"I know you don't want me to get hurt or killed, but I owe you for when were younger. Remember when that gigantic tree almost killed me.", hearing her say these words take me back to that day.

I had just came back from the Elite choosing, and the training was done. Clair and I had came back, and I went straight to helping my dad with working on some trees. My dad's friend was helping him and he had his daughter, Sestra, there with him. She was only eleven, she wasn't working she was only messing around, and she had decided to take a rest where we cut down the trees. I heard a tree crack and I saw that the stupid idiot was still under the tree. I tossed everything aside and ran to her. She had just noticed the tree and was frozen with fear, when I pulled her off the ground and tossed myself over her and we fell a foot away from where the tree landed.

Ever since that day she has been my shadow. I taught her some things I knew. She learned how to survive, and now she wants to repay me the favor. "There is one, big difference between then and now!" I shout at her, "Back then I lived when I saved you, and in order for you to save my life I have to win and you have to lose. Losing means death!" I yell out at her. Before she could respond Akiliya and Seran came in to say their good-byes.

"I want you two to know that it has been an honor to escort you both." Seran said with a sad tone, but she's still part of the Capital, so she insults us right after, "Don't die, if you two die, then I'm demoted to another District like 12, eeww!"

"We love you too, Seran." Sestra says. Seran nods and leaves us with a smile. Akiliya says good-bye to us as well.

"You two might do your last minute prepping tonight. Remember that you two have to conceal yourselves. Pack, hunting gear, weapon, and water. I'll be watching and getting you things from your sponsers. Good luck you two!", Akiliya gives Sestra and I a hug, and before she leaves salutes me.

"Sestra will see you right after the games are done." I say because she's the one who will win. Sestra ignores me, and hugs her back and leaves to her room.

I walk off to my room, and there I take off the glimmering hair extensions. I take a shower, and pull out a tray of almonds from my draw and eat to sleep. I have another nightmare, where I suffocate Sestra and win. It's followed by the dream of when I met Excalibar. We were in the middle of our third free-for all battle. He just popped out of the water where I was fishing. The Arena was lake surrounded by forestry.

"Hey, you're not Crimson!", he acted surprise.

"Yeah, I've noticed!", I was still surprised and scared he'd knock me out.

"You're funny! I haven't seen you around the grape vine, what's your name again?"

"I'm Echo, and you're Excalibar!", I just realized who he was.

"I'm also really wet, come on in and join me!", he grabs my hand and pulls me in, and he starts to laugh.

"Ah, I don't...know...how to swim!", I shouted and kicked around. I remember hitting the bottom of the shallow water and seeing him coming down to save me. He could of knocked me out, but instead he saved me from drowning. We later formed an alliance and I ended up winning.

The next morning I wake up and see that the outfit that I'm going to wear. It was just normal clothes with special properties. The shirt was supposed to change tempurature according to the weather. The sweater was to keep in heat, well more than a usual one would. I put it down and I leave to a room where a hovercraft awaits all the tributes. I grab on to the ladder to be lifted up, but a shock freezes me and I can't move. A Peacekeeper puts a needle into me, and I ask him what it's for. He tells me that it's my tracker. I'm lifted in and I'm strapped in with everyone inside. I stay quite, because I know that if I talk it'll be harder to kill these people, my friends.

We arrive to a base and we are sent to our launch room, where we await to be sent into the arena. I go inside the room and I see that Tigris is there. She holds out her hands for a hug and I oblige her.

"Hey, you forgot something in the prep room." She holds out my mockingjay necklace.

"Thank you, Tigris!" I was relieved that she had found it for me. She puts it around my neck, and then a loud booming voice sounds, "60...59...", the countdown has just started.

"You better get on the platform quick!" Tigris says, and I follow her directions and when I get on it a glass tube surrounds me. "Good luck, Kid! Make me proud!", she says before I'm launched off. I rise to the top and I see all the other tributes.

Our platforms is in the middle of a meadow. I can see that the trees and mountains surrounds us. I see the golden cornucopia down in the middle. The meadow decents inword toward it. I look around I see that Sestra is a couple people away from me. I turn to look for Persia, and then I hear an explosion.

Chapter 8

I turn around and I see that Sestra's wooden ball, her district token, has landed a couple feet away from my platform. I look at Sestra to see if she threw it. She was gone. Then I realize that the explosion came from her platform. I hear the people next to her shriek out. I could see that something was splattered all over the floor. "NO!" I yell out. I fall to my knees on the platform. I see that the wooden ball was scorched.

"10...9...8...", the booming voice announces. I hear Persia shouting out for me to get up. I didn't know what to do. I get up and my face is filled with tears. Sestra was dead. "Let the 55th annual Hunger Games begin!" and a large ring is announced, and I start to run the decent into the Cornicopia. I make it into the inside of it where I grab a bag of axes, whip, and a pack. When I turn around I see Richest coming at me with the iron claws he wanted. I grab an axe instantly and throw it, I see him stop straightaway and he falls to the ground with in axe in his head. I run, pull the axe out of him, and run up the incline.

Halfway up I see that Clydessa is in front of me with an arrow drawn and pointed at my skull. I stop and I see a knife fly pass my head and get her in the eye. She fires it, and I drop to the ground to avoid it. The arrow bulleted passed me and gets Caitlyn, who threw the knife at her in the first place, in the eye. The phrase "an eye for an eye" has never rung so true.

I'm on the floor when Derma darted and tripped over me. We lock eyes and she hurries to get up and darts into the forest with a pack. I get up and run and a barrage of knives flies towards me, all thrown by Juno from District 12. She chases me into the forest where I hide in a bush. She stops because she knows it's better to go back to the clearing rather to take me on, the boy who scored an eleven, the boy from District 7 where they specialize in forests.

I see her turn around only to get a sword lodged in her and go through her completely. I see that it was Darwin from District 3. Behind him comes Issac, from District 5, and he breaks Darwin's neck with his enourmous hands. He kneels down near Juno's body and he picks up her head. She isn't dead, yet. She speaks, "Issac, I love you!" she coughs, with blood filling her mouth.

"I love you too, Juno!" he crys out, he could barely be heard from all the tears. I couldn't bear to see my friend like this. Juno's head turns lifelessly and her eyes lock on to where I am. There is no more life in them. Issac puts her head down, and closes her eyes. I couldn't bear it. I sneak out and walked behind him quietly, and I throw an axe. I close my eyes and I hear a loud thump. I turn around and I see that Lilia from District 8, saw the whole thing. I expect an arrow or a spear from her, but she just nods at me and she dashes into the forest.

I get the axe from Issac's head, and I speed off into the forest. I find a clearing, and a tree with a hole in the base big enough for me to slip into. I crawl in and I sit with my knees to my chest. I take in all of what just happened. I killed two of my friends, and led four others into their doom.

My sobs seem loud to me, but no one finds me so I'm fine. "Sestra...how...why?", I crying under my breath. She's dead. How could this happen, we warned her about the landmines. I'm crying more, and if I'm crying this much for Sestra, I can only imagine losing Persia. That would kill me.

Hours go by, and I see that Crimson comes into the clearing. She takes a wire out of her pack, and she climbs the tree in no time. She comes back down and I realize she just set a trap. She put a bag of apples in the middle. I see her sneak over to the side and kneel down.

I crawl out the hole, quickly and undetected. I get up and bullet for the bag and she runs straight into the clearing. I grab the bag of apples and run further into the forest. I find a dirt path, and start to run it, and she runs right behind me. I've known Crimson for a long time, and I know that she can run for miles, and she won't stop until she catches her taget, which right now, is me. I could tell she was mad because the trap didn't work on me, and I took her 5 apples. I hear a crack, a familiar one, so I slow down enough to see a tree fall in front of me. My Elite training kicked in, and I jump over it, landing with enough momentum to keep running. I've seen Crimson train, and she's one person who couldn't do a perfect jumps like Artimis, from District 11, Lilia, from District 8, and I could. She comes to a quick hault, and falls over the fallen log.

After an hour of running I slow down and decide that no one else is chasing me. I walk straight into a patch of shorter trees that are familiar to me. I also notice a certain type of moss that only grows near water. I hear 10 cannons fire. Each cannon represents each tribute that has died. It has started to get a little less brighter so I campout in a higher tree. I find a fork in the high branches and set up. I see a little opening in the leaves where I have perfect view of the sunset.

I open my pack and pull out the sleeping bag. I also find a bag of jerky, dried fruits and berries, a pair of sunglasses, bandages, rubbing alcohol, water, and matches. I get ready to go to sleep so I close my eyes. I take in everything again. All those dead faces, Crimson, my friend, angry at me and trying to kill me now. I see the Capital seal appear in the sky and I see the faces of the deceased once again. It starts in order.

_**District 1: Richest Wave**_

_**District 3: Darwin Bolt**_

_**District 3: Nessa Wire**_

_**District 5: Issac Stroid**_

_**District 6: Caitlyn Calliton**_

_**District 7: Sestra Celenova**_

_**District 9: Clydessa Dardez**_

_**District 9: Alex Zecko**_

_**District 12: Jenten Mao**_

_**District 12: Juno Badge**_

I wake up the next morning, and I crawl back down I go looking for a river, but instead I find a tiny stream. I go up the current and find a big lake. I look around to see if anyone was around. I see that across from me, my friend Kessie Firstina, from District 10 is drinking water near the lakes edge. I would call her over but I don't know if she's dangerous, or if someone is around to kill me as soon as I call her.

From behind her I see bushes rustling. I see that she notices, and she starts to run. I see four people run out of the bushes and chase her down. I couldn't help it, I have to help Kessie, she was my friend, and they were about to kill her. I see that her assailants are Caston and Jareda, Nathine, and Derma. They all have daggers in their hands and they playing with Kessie. They surround her and each take a turn cutting her. I stop running because of they see me they'll do the same. I see that Kessie tries to make another escape. This time Derma, being as quick as she is, jumps on her and takes Nathine's spear and impales her. "Stop it, NO!", I yell out on accident. Kessie's cannon fires.

Chapter 9

I see that they've spotted me, I turn to run, and I can hear them shouting out "Get him, quick!". I keep running into the forest, and soon enough they stop, and I've lost them. I find a nice big tree and I climb it. At the top, I find a fork of branches, and I sit down.

I take a sip of the water I have and I eat an apple. It starts to get dark. I doze off a little, and when I wake up I see someone in front of me. I take an axe and my hand gets stopped by someone else. _This is it, I lost the games, I'm never going to fulfill Sestra's wish of me winning._ The person behind me puts the sunglasses on me and covers my mouth. The sunglasses let me see better in the dark. I see that the person in front of me is Artimis, and the person covering my mouth is Jason.

"Quiet." Artimis whispers and points down. I see that it's Caston and his alliance are walking under us. They are talking about Kessie. "Oh please don't kill me!" Nathine mocks Kessie's begging.

"Please, I could help you find Echo quicker! Just don't kill me!" Derma follows, "She was so pathetic!" she laughs right after. I feel the immense pressure of throwing an axe in her head, but Jason sensed this and he gripped my hand harder.

They soon pass and Jason releases me. "Artimis, Jason, what are you guys doing?" I whisper.

"Well we were walking when we saw their torch so we climbed up the tree and found you here." Artimis says.

"You were about to kill Artimis, so I had to stop you, and sorry about covering your mouth, I just didn't want you to blow our cover." Jason says.

"Oh that's understandable, but I thought you guys were going to kill me, that's why I raised the axe." I explain.

"It's okay we get it." Artimis says. "Sorry about Sestra."

"Yeah, if my sister was stupid enough to blow herself up I would go crazy to." Jason laughs, strangely, I don't find this funny.

"Jason!" Artimis hushes him, "I told you already she didn't blow herself up!"

"What do you mean she didn't blow herself up?" I said.

"I saw the whole thing, Jareda told her to drop the ball, because it would've held her back from running, so she did and the rest is history." she reveals to me that Sestra's death wasn't an accident. All my feelings for Jareda were gone as soon as she finished telling me this. I wanted to get her in the head with an axe.

"I'm going to chop her head off."

"Whoa, take a chill pill, it's to late we gotta get some sleep." Jason grabs my shoulder. The anthem plays and the Capital seal appears in the sky. One face appears tonight.

_**District 10: Kessie Firstina**_

The anthem plays out and the seal disappears. Jason and Artimis take a seperate fork then me and they fall asleep. I go to sleep right after them and I have a dream about Kessie. When it came to the training sessions in the Capital, we were always a team. She was the first person to even talk to me when we first arrived at the Capital. She was my first friend here. She might've planned to sell me out but I know she was scared, and she had to do anything to live. They way it sounds, they were looking for me.

I wake up early and I pack up and slowly crawl down the tree. I find Artimis on a branch near mine, and Jason is on another branch in another tree. I crawl up to Artimis and I leave an axe. I start to walk towards the big mountains that are really far away. I take a path that is covered in trees, there is no way someone can find me through here. Although I could be wrong. I constantly hear twigs snapping, but I think that It could just be the gamemakers trying to scare me. I walk for hours and I can see that some of the trees start to thin down. Trees start to turn into saplings and it soon turns into plain dirt on the floor. I hear something whizzing around in the air, and I can feel fear building up in me.

I start to slow down and I come to a stop so I can rest. I scan the area I'm in but I highly doubt that anyone will find me here, even though it's a clear wide plain. I drink some of the water I've collected. I eat another apple and ly down, I close my eyes for a second, and I hear something bullet through the air, and land right next to me. I open my eyes sit up and I examine a sharp disc that is sticking out of the ground. The bulleting noise is back and I jump out of the way. Another disc lands right under me. I look up and see many more flying towards me. I grab my things and start to run back towards the forest. A disc hits the floor in front of me, and breaks through a rock. I come to a screeching halt and run in another direction. I'm running and I can see the tree line coming up. Something cuts my side, and I see that a disc lands in front of me covered in blood. My blood. I start to push myself further and I am running in a zig-zagging lines.

Another one cuts my ear, and soon one lands straight in my calf. I stop and it starts to burn as if it were on fire. I look at it and it's turning red hot. I fall on the floor yeling in pain. I see another one flying towards my head, I roll over and it lands near my head. This disc is different, once it hit the floor, it doesn't stop spinning. It was digging into the ground. The disc finally starts to burn so much I grab and yank it out as quick as I can. I yell and I get up and run into the forest which is only a couple feet away. When I get to the first tree a disc cuts right through a tree, and it falls almost hitting me on its way down. My leg still burns but I jump over the tree and run further into the forest. I soon stop hearing the discs after they've cut down about ten trees.

I'm exhausted and just let myself fall straight onto the floor. I can feel my calf still burning, and the powerful pain is pulsing in my ears. I reach in my pack and I grab the anti-bacterial cream and some bandages. I bite down on my whip and I rub on the cream. It burns and I want to scream, but I bite down on the whip harder, knowing that I might be within earshot of one of the other tribute. I wrap my leg in the bandages, and make sure it stops bleeding.

Chapter 10

The burning pain turns into a cooling sensation. The pounding pain in my ears starts to go away, an I allow myself to go to sleep on the floor, hopefully no one passes by. I'm dead wrong. I hear speaking coming from the other side of some shrubs. I get up and try to run but my leg is still weak. I lean on a tree and start to climb as fast as I can. "Come on I heard it from over hear!", I hear a familiar voice. It's Nathine, and if he's here then the rest of their group shouldn't be to far away. I hurry up the tree, and try to conceal myself in one of the branches.

"What did you hear exactly!", Jareda asks him.

"It was a really loud thump, I mean huge, sort of like an earthquake!", he shouts and pushes his way through the bushes. "Whoa!", he exclaims as he sees the fallen trees.

"What in the world!", Derma shouts out kind of laughing. Their faces are filled with shock. "What did the gamemakers do this for!".

"Probably for that!", Caston yells out pointing at the tree I'm in. "Come on out I already saw you, Echo!". _How did he see me?_

"Hi, you guys!", I sit up on the branch. "What are you guys doing over here?", I shout down from the branch.

"Nothing just trying to get rid of as many competetors as we can!", Nathine says. "I thought you'd be a little bit more difficult to find but you've proven me wrong once again!".

"When was the first time Nathine!", I ask with a smile.

"That day in the third free-for-all! When you trapped us all in the electrified lake, by setting the trees around us on fire! Then I thought you would get a score lower than ours, but no, you out did yourself and got an 11! That makes me really proud to know you!", he says grabbing Derma's bow and arrows. I prepare my axes for a fling when a parachute comes sailing into the tree with me. They all notice, and Nathine is ready to shoot, and I jump to the branch above me where it landed. The arrow flies and hits the trunk. I look down and see that Jareda is jumping on to the tree and starting to climb. I open the package and see that it's a cross bow. I tie it to my wrist, and load it with one of it's many arrows. I point it down and the group sees it, but Jareda is still to busy climbing to see it. The yell out,"Jareda , come back down! Quick!", I look for her in the branches below me and I start to aim. I finally have a lock on her, and then an arrow scratches my cheeck. I look down and I see Derma is getiing ready to launch another one. I jump to the next tree and she misses.

I keep skipping into different trees, and I try to escape, but they follow me. I land on a flimsy branch and I fall down to the forest floor. I tumble and I start ot run again. More arrows are flying and I turn around to fire one of my own, and it gets Nathine in the shoulder. This stops Derma from chasing but Jareda and Caston continue on. I shoot back and get Caston in the shin, but it doesn't stop him. I run and I hear an awful high pitched tweeting from above me. There was a nest of bright colored birds, I'm guessing these were Capital Muttations. They were candy pink, with beaks that looked really sharp. I run ahead of it and when I see that Caston and Jareda were almost underneath the nest of the swarming candy birds I shoot an arrow into it and it falls to the ground in front of them. The birds swarm the two of them, and they start to get stabbed by the birds, I only watch for a minute and leave before the birds notice me.

I run away and come to a stop when I hear the Capital seal appears and the anthem plays, but there is no one dead tonight. I'm tired of running, and before I climb the tree to go to sleep, I clean the wound that the arrow made on my face. The next morning, I wake up and a sudden thought hits me. I whisper to myself, "The ball!". Sestra's ball is all I have left of her, I have to go back and get it. The last time I saw it was when I was running away from Juno.

I need to go back and find the ball, not only do I want it, but I need it so I don't ever forget what I'm fighting for. I start to crawl down the tree, but I tumble down and land on the crossbow, now it's broken, but I ignore it and start to walk opposite of the mountains I was following the other day. After hours of walking I stop because I hear noises. I feel like the discs are going to start flying but I jump down when I hear a lone mockingjay sing. I start to walk again and I finally reach a forest clearing. I hear a noise undeniably made by a person behind me. I crack my whip and I grab something. "Echo. It's me, Jareda, don't kill me please!", she says. I examine her for a minute and see that she is covered in puncture wounds. Not too bad, but still scars are scars.

"Jareda! Give me a reason why I shouldn't kill you?" I shout.

"Because I'm your friend?"

"You told Sestra to drop the ball and she killed herself!", I say remembering what Artimis told me two days ago.

"What? Who told you that!"

"Artimis told me everything!" I shout out.

"Artimis! That liar, she's using you, she told me Excalibar told her a secret about you, and that she was going to use it aganist you!" Excaliber? That bastard. I take spme time and think about it. Would Excalibar betray my trust so he could win these games? What am I saying? Of course he would, anyone would. She must be telling the truth, how else would she know about it.

It gives me some time to form the words in my mouth, "Okay, I believe you!" I say but I really don't. "Jareda, what are you doing sneaking up on me like that? You know I'm really paranoid enough to kill you!" I whisper to her.

"I'm sorry, I can barely think straight.", she said looking down as sad as I've ever seen her.

"What happened to you?", I noticed there's an iron claw mark going across her chest that looked fresh, only one person can use an iron claw, besides Richest, who I had happened to kill. "Where is Caston!", I ask knowing that he just attacked his own girlfriend.

"He abandoned me, and he attacked me as soon as we came up in a forest clearing. I was barely able to get away I'm just lucky Lilia came and helped me.", she said as a cannon fired. "Lilia.", she whispers to herself and cryed a little.

"When did you leave her and where?", I asked her quietly, so if Caston was near he wouldn't hear us.

"About a minute or two ago, and in that direction.", she says and more cracking coming from the direction she pointed. I pull her near a tree that could provide us cover.

"Jareda, where are you?", Caston yells out.

"Did you see which way she went?", one voice asks. I look up and take a peek to who it is. It's Urwin from District 10.

"She went this way!"

"Dude, What happened!", Urwin asked him, while he kneeled down to exam the ground.

"I don't know why she did it. She came up on me on slashed me with a dagger!", Caston answers and I see the monster lift up his hand with the iron claw on it. Jareda is at my level watching too, I here a grunt and I push her head behind the tree, so she wouldn't see. I here a loud thump, and I look back to see that Urwin is on the ground with his back split open. Caston is running out of the clearing. Excalibar comes out of nowhere and chases after him. I run out from behind the tree to take care of Urwin. I push him over so he can see me.

"Echo, Hey kiddo...", Urwin says coughing.

"Urwin, don't waste your breath, you need to rest!", I say. I hear rustling from the bush. I position my axe ready to attack.

"Whoa! Echo slow down it's just me Excalibar!", he bursts out. "Urwin, are you okay!", he rushes over to Urwin's side and grabs his hand.

"Yeah, Excalibar, I'll be fine, I just need some rest, and some bandages.", Urwin says.

"I have some bandages in my pack!", I say.

"Don't waste them, we have more at the camp!", Excalibar jumps in. _Wait a minute did he just say camp_, I thought to myself. We carried Urwin to there camp, and there Persia and Crimson carried him to his sleeping bag and treated him. After an hour they told us he wouldn't make it. Excalibar goes to talk to him first.

"Crimson, Persia, what's all this?", I ask.

"Nothing that concerns you, Echo and especially not you Jareda!", Crimson pushes me, and stares daggers at Jareda.

"What's your problem?" Jareda says coming to my aid, and Persia holds Crimson back.

"My problem is with him, he took the apples I set as a trap to get us food, and to make things worse he almost killed me with his tree trick!", she yells at me. "If anyone is going to kill him, it's going to be me."

"Crimson, I'm sorry, but I haven't even eaten the apples, here they are!", I toss them to her.

"The apples aren't important it's what you tried to do to me!", she comes in close and starts to yell.

"Crimson, I didn't do anything to that tree. Unless it was someone else, it was just the gamemakers who are trying to spice up these games.", a cannon rings out, we all turn to look at Excalibar who looks at us grimly. Urwin was dead

Chapter 11

That night Excalibar and I stayed up to keep watch. It was quiet as the crickets sing.

"This reminds me of the day we meet, do you remember that day, Excalibar?", I ask to keep the silence from consuming us completely.

"Yeah, I remember. I remember even before we met. Urwin got in a training match with you. You literally whipped him. I remember he told me that he wanted you to be part of our alliance as soon as we met up here.", Excalibar tells me still stricken by his best friend's death. He tells me that he was glad that he was the last person his best friend got to see before he passed.

"Hey, Excalibar, did you tell Artimis about my thing over killing my friends?", I ask.

"No I didn't who told you that? I would never, Echo.", he says.

"Jareda said that Artimis told her that you told her."

"That lying! I didn't. I swear."

"But how else would she..."

The anthem plays and the Capital seal appears in the sky, which distracts us from the conversation. It shows Lilia and Urwin in the sky.

_**District 8: Lilia Harvord**_

_**District 10: Urwin Carnivous**_

Excalibar gets up and presses the three middle fingers of his left hand against his lips and points them towards the sky. I know that this is a tradition in District 12, Juno told me so. I get up and join him. He looks down at me and I could see that he's crying.

Two days pass by and no one has died besides Urwin and Lilia. I've stayed in the camp with Excalibar, Persia, Crimson, and Jareda. Things in the games get easier, because we all support each other with our abilities. I got Crimson to forgive me even though I didn't really try to kill her. We have been able to sustain ourselves and we are still plotting to find other people so we could finish these games faster.

"Help me, please...", a voice says from the bushes near the river we camp by. Since it's night time, only Persia and I are awake keeping watch. We slowly creep over, ready to attack just in case the helpless voice is just a trick. It wasn't. It's Artimis from District 11, without her brother.

"Artimis, what happened to you?", Persia asks as she walks over to help her up. There are arrows all over Artimis' back.

"Where's Jason?", I ask her.

"He stayed with Nathine, Derma, and Caston!", she says crying, relieved that we had found her.

"Do you mean he actually joined up with them?", I ask.

"Yes, I didn't want to be part of it, so I went out to find you, Echo, and halfway in my search Derma attacked me.", she staggered to say, as we lay her down on her stomach to treat the wounds on her back. I take the anti-bacterial cream I still have left and use it on her, and some of the bandage wraps. She seems better in a matter of minutes, and she goes straight to sleep.

Persia and I keep watch, and I stay calm by listening to the songs the crickets whistle out. Then the eerie song stops. It goes quite, deadly quite. I wake up Persia who had dozed off, and we wake up everyone else. Everyone is surprised to see that Artimis was here. She stood up by herself and explained it all. She seemed a lot better than when we found her. A cannon fires, we could only guess who that was, my guess was that it was Jason. We could only wait for tonight to come and show us who died.

I remember why I woke everyone up, the quite. I told them but they said I was just being paranoid. They packed stuff into their bags anyways and they went back to sleep. I stayed up, still scared by the quite of the dawn. "Help me please...", I hear a voice come from the river. "Help me please...", I hear it again, I check it out knowing this wasn't a person. It was a Noise Cracker. A Noise Cracker was a mutation made by the Capital, in times of the rebellion, which led to the existence of these games I'm in right know. A Noise Cracker is half piranha, it has the teeth and the same features as one, and half frog, it has legs that let it jump high and a croak that can copy any noise it wants. When it's in danger it lets out a screech to warn others and when they are together, they attack. They secrete toxins that cause a person to go crazy. They can survive out of water which makes them more dangerous than they already are.

This Noise Cracker wasn't alone. I could see lights reflect off the water, but it's not the water its being reflected off of. It's the eyes of more Noise Crackers. The first one notices me and releases a glass shattering screech. They all start to swim to the river banks. I run to wake everyone and I tell them about the Noise Crackers that are coming. They all get their weapons and start to run. By now the frogs are on land getting closer to us. We are packed and start to run. They start chasing us at full speed. We are all running away from the water. Then I hear Persia shout "Crimson!". I look back and see that Crimson is swatting at the Noise Crackers as they swarm her on the ground. "Get off me, Help! Help!", I had never heard Crimson scream like this. "Get them off!". A silver parachute lands near me. I open it quickly and see there's a whislte. I run back to Crimson and blow on it. The Noise Crackers seem to be startled at every blow and they begin to retreat back to the river we ran away from.

Everyone comes back, and Crimson is on the floor, convulsing, and foaming at the mouth. She's twitching and she's humming out words. She's been bitten to many times to save. We all watch, which is all we can do. She gives one last strong twitch, and her head falls to the side, lifeless. Persia closes Crimson's eyes, and we walk back to the camp to see if we can scavenge anything. Crimson's cannon is shot, and we know she's in a better place now. I see the hovercraft fly by us and it takes her body.

I stop and whisper, "Bye, Crimson. I'll miss you.", I do the same thing Excalibar did for Lilia and Urwin. I turn back and continue along with them. We get back to the camp and find that not a lot is harmed just the food, and thanks to me, we still have some packed up in our packs. We decide to rest for a while somewhere else. We find a low patch of trees, like the ones I had found a day or two ago. I show them all the trick I used to sleep in the tree, and we all find seperate trees, and we go to sleep. I wake up in the afternoon, and I find that everyone, except for Jareda, is huddled down beneath the trees. I join them and ask ,"Where's Jareda?"

"That little traitor, took her pack filled with food and a mace, and ditched us." Excalibar spoke angrily. "Apparently she's been on Caston's side the whole time."

"What about the scar that Caston left across her chest?", I ask.

"I saw the whole thing, they planned it! I told you not to trust her!", Artimis says. "My brain got joggled up, and when I fell out of a tree, but it came back to me. That's why the sent Derma to try and kill me as soon as I tried to quit their alliance."

"No wonder I was suspicious of Jareda, she always was the worst when they tried to teach us how to act.", I state knowing that Jareda was up to something from the beginning. "Now what do we do?"

"We are going to find them and kill them! Then it's down to us four." Persia says, and everyone avoids eye contact with each other.

"We can't hurt Jason though, he's my brother, and they of forced him to join. They told me they'd spare me if he joined up with them...", she thinks for a second or two and continues, "If we are going to go after them, I think we should split up, groups of two.", Artimis says.

"That's an idea, we can cover more ground and get them faster.", Excalibar points out.

"I'll go with Persia and you guys can go together. Here's your weapon, Artimis." I say and hand her all my axes, instead of the just one, like I gave her when I seperated from her and Jason. I know that I'm gonna regret giving her the axes later on, but as long as she knows I trust her is good enough for me to continue these games guilt free.

Persia grabs two sheaths of arrows, her pack, and her bow. I grab my whip, Crimson's sword, and my pack. Excalibar gets the spears and pack filled with what we divided for each other, and Artimis does the same with her axes. We say our good-byes and continue on.

Persia and I find ourselves climbing up a mountain later on that night. "I don't think I can continue on for today. We have to find a place to sleep.", she says exhausted.

"Okay, you stay here I'll look for a tree where we could stay.", I look around.

"Or we could stay in that cave over there.", she laughs out.

"Okay then, get up I'll carry you there.", I laugh along with her. We get to the mouth of the small cave entrance. The doorway is small but the inside is big enough for the both of us. I set up with a flashlight as my only resource of light. I help Persia put her things down for her to go to sleep and I would keep watch. I crawl outside while she sleeps, and the sky brightens up with the Capital seal. The faces of the deceased:

_**District 1: Crimson War**_

_**District 11: Jason Zing**_

The anthem plays and the it goes off. After seeing that Jason was dead, I feel bad for Artimis. She must be crying herself to sleep right now. Poor thing, I hope she gets to go home to see her family. I don't care if I win anymore, this is horrible, I was supposed to save Sestra. _She dropped the ball on any chances of her survival, literally, _I thought to myself. I see a silver parachute coming towards me. I open the can and find that it's hot soup and a note from Akiliya. A second one comes and floats into the cave, I'm guessing that it was for Persia.

I read the note which said, "Dear Echo, Sorry about your loses, I tried to get the whistle to you quicker but no one would pay quick enough. Either way here's some soup to keep you going for the next day or two, ration it safely, so it doesn't go to waste in one day. Love, Akiliya", the note made me cry. I wasn't hungry, but it reminded me of what I'm fighting for again. I'm fighting for my friends that died, and I'm fighting to go home to District 7. Everything seemed to be clear, so I crawled back into the cave and saw that Persia was sweating a lot, and she seemed to be breathing heavily. She has a fever! She must have been bitten by a Noise Cracker when she was trying to help Crimson, and got at least a little bit of the poison in her system.

Now I know what her gift was, medicine. I woke her up as quickly as possible, "Persia, Persia, wake up, take this quick!", I shout at her until she opens her mouth and I pour it in. Her skin, which was red because she was hot, calmed down to pink, and then back to normal. She was all better.

"Thank you, Echo, if you hadn't woke me up, I would've probably died in my sleep of that fever.", she says and I hug her because I couldn't think about losing her already. She stays up while I go to sleep.

"Oh, Persia there is soup in that canister, feel free to eat some." I say before I lay down and sleep for hours. I wake up to find that Persia is sleeping as well. She looks like she's been sleeping for as long as I have. She looks so peaceful. I wake her up with the least alarming voice I have, then I hear a cannon fire from outside. This wakes Persia up instantly.

We walk out of the cave and I could see down the mountain and I see Artimis being chased by something. I immediately know who the cannon belonged to. Excalibar.

Chapter 12

I see Artimis running screaming, and Persia and I jump into action leaving everything, knowing we'll come back for it. We run down to the side and Artimis falls and crawls backwards away from what is chasing her. We jump in front of her and I see that it's another Capital Mutation. This one I've never seen before. It's a bear with a very thin coat of fur, it had a dog face with sharp teeth and tusks, and it's body was covered in armor. It was snarling with blood in it's mouth.

I know Persia's arrows wouldn't pierce it and neather would Crimson's sword. I notice that there's an axe in it's back, so I can tell that Artimis tried to fight it off. I pull out the whip and I crack it at the mutt. I do this repeatedly until it get's scared enough to leave.

I dash to Artimis' side. She was breathing heavily, still exhausted from running. "Artimis, what happened? Where's Excalibar?", I yelled at her to get a hold of her attention.

"I don't know he ran the other way. That thing killed Nathine. It was horrible, it's teeth ripped him apart...", she answered hyperventilating.

"Get a hold of yourself!", Persia shouts slapping her twice across the face. I couldn't help but laugh a little.

"Okay, I'm fine!", she screams out. We start to walk away and I hear footsteps from behind us. I turn around and crack the whip getting Derma across the cheek but she shoots an arrow that hits Artimis in the chest. Derma holds her cheek and runs off. Artimis falls to her knees, and has a painfully surprised look on her face. The arrow went straight through her, and lodged itself in her chest.

"Echo...Persia, make sure you kill that...", Artimis says with her last breath. She falls backwards onto her back with her knees still folded. I took this as permission to leave, and I run seeing Derma in my sights, she looks back and starts to scream. I feel the rush of anger run down my face. I crack the whip and it rips the back of her shirt, and she cries out in pain. I try again but this time I trip and she gets away. Persia catches up to me, and she helps me up.

"Persia, we can't let them get away with doing stuff like that!", I say cringing from the fall. The cannon shoots out, and I know that Artimis is dead for sure.

"We won't, we'll kill them before they can get to any other one of us. Now come on, we got a useless mutt running around, that we have to kill.", Persia answers giving the most evil smile I'd ever seen from her.

We continue on looking for either Excalibar or Caston, Jareda, and Derma. While we walked, Persia and I reminiced about old times.

"Remember, the first free-for-all where we teamed up and you took out 4 people when we were surrounded.", I told her.

"You've done better in trainings. You were smart enough to get everyone in the electrified water, by setting the forest surronding us on fire, remember that was the third free-for-all!", we laughed, because besides my whipping people left and right, that was my crowning achievement. We slowed down to a meadow, not the one with the cornucopia, but a meadow with beautiful flowers and butterflies. I wasn't sure, but I think I can hear mockingjays singing too.

"This place is beautiful!" I say sounding the happiest I've had the whole time I've been in the arena. I hear another footstep uneven with ours, and like the first time, I threw the whip and I got something by the neck. I was hoping it was Jareda. I pulled whatever it was through the bushes it was hiding in, and my wish came true. It was Jareda.

I pulled her towards me and got her in a head lock. Persia readies her arrow, and points it at Jareda's heart. Jareda was able to choke out a couple words, "What are you doing I'm on your side!"

"Stop lying, Jareda, Artimis told us everything, that's why you ran away, right? You saw Artimis and knew she was going to tell us about your plan with Caston and Derma!", Persia says.

"One question before we kill you, Jareda.", I say

"What would that be?", Jareda answers.

"How did you know that I told Excalibar that secret?"

"I just happened to come in at the right moment, and I heard it all. I decided to use myself to kill you. Hey, Echo, guess what!", Jareda asks.

"What?", I answered.

"I told...Sestra to...drop her ball, and...I tripped Crimson!", she said laughing. I get furious and start to squeeze her neck harder. "Caston now!", she yells out, before I break her neck. Caston pops out of the tall grass and throws a spear at Persia, who at the same time fired an arrow into his cheek.

"Ah...", I hear Persia spit out as she falls to ground. Caston yells out louder and runs off. Jareda's cannon fired and I run to Persia's side.

"Persia, No!" I felt like crying but I know that I shouldn't in front of her.

"Echo, don't leave me here alone, please.", she breathes out.

"No, I'm not going anywhere!", I tell her.

"I'm not going to make it, Echo.", she says.

"No, you're going to make it, you're going to win this game. Be strong Persia! Please!"

"Sit me up against the tree, please", I do as she says, and I ask her why. "The sun is going down, and I wanted to see my last sunset." The hovercraft comes into view and picks up Jareda's body.

"It's not your last sunset! You're a fighter! Fight it, Persia, please! Fight!"

"Echo, I'm not stupid. I'm going down right now, just like the sun. Here take my pin. It's yours now.", she hands me her District token, a mockingjay pin, like my necklace. "Hey, Echo...Stop it. Smile. Come on smile, I want to see that thirteen year old I met in the arena, that one day.", she tells me and I try to smile, but I sort of get a mix of a laughing frown. "Come on before I go, I want to see a smile. Remember what we used to do when you were sad."

"Yes, I do.", I say and nod. I try to give her the smile she asked for, but it's still to hard.

"Yeah, you remember. I use to tickle you!", she pokes my stomach and she's laughing. I try to hold back my laughter but it gets out. "Can you sing to me...my favorite song. Remember the first one you sang when we met...the Hanging tree." I couldn't hold my tears in anymore, I was smiling but I was also crying. "Come on...cheer up. I'm going somewhere better than this place.", she wipes tears off my face. "Sing, Echo. You always were the best..."

I begin the song and I watch her slowly fade away. I shake her as I sing the song to keep her awake.

_"Are you, are you_

_Coming to the tree_

_Where they strung up a man they say murdered three._

_Strange things did happen here_

_No stranger would it be_

_If we met up at midnight in the hanging tree._

_Are you, are you_

_Coming to the tree_

_Where the dead man called out for his love to flee._

_Strange things did happen here_

_No stranger would it be_

_If we met up at midnight in the hanging tree._

_Are you, are you_

_Coming to the tree_

_Where I told you to run so we'd both be free._

_Strange things did happen here_

_No stranger would it be_

_If we met up at midnight in the hanging tree._

_Are you, are you_

_Coming to the tree_

_Wear a necklace of rope, side by side with me._

_Strange things did happen here_

_No stranger would it be_

_If we met up at midnight in the hanging tree."  
_

When I look up at her I see that her eyes are closed and she has a peaceful smile on her face. I try to wake her up. I slap her, but she doesn't wake up. No matter what I do she doesn't wake up and her smile never clears off her face. I'm on my knees yelling in pain at the top of my lungs. "Persia! Don't Go! Pleeeaase, Persia, please!" She doesn't move at all. While I'm breaking down next to her body, I realize that she is in a better place. Why else would she be smiling? I ly her body down so the falling sunlight can reach her. I wipe my tears and I kiss her forehead as a send-off. I take her bow and arrows and some supplies from her pack. I go and retrieve my whip, which is broken and useless to me. Persia's cannon fires, and the mockingjays flutter around and warn of the upcoming hovercraft. There is something odd about this hovercraft, it just zooms into view faster than the rest do, it quickly takes Persia, and as fast as it came into view, it leaves. As soon as it leaves there is silence for a minute and then the mockingjays continue singing. Only this time they are singing my song. I walk away and I don't look back, I don't want to see her being taken away completely.

I think about the song I had just sung to her. I meant a lot to me. My mother showed it to me, she said that her grandma showed it to her. I sung that song when I first met Persia in our first free-for-all beach arena. I find a tree to go to sleep in for the night, and I set up to wait for the anthem to play. The Capital seal appears and my dead friends faces appear:

_**District 2: Persia Ross**_

_**District 4: Jareda Asleen**_

_**District 6: Nathine Gallaghr**_

_**District 11: Artimis Zing**_

Chapter 13

I wake up the next morning. I get down from my perch and pack up. I put Persia's pin on my shirt and start to make my way. I don't know where I'm going, but all I know is that I'm out to kill. I walk about a mile when a silver parachute lands my way. I open the canister and I find a brand new metallic whip, gloves, and a note. The note said, "Dear Echo, Please except this whip as a gift of my gratitude for taking care of Persia. This new longer bullwhip should be able to assist you. Hold the handle strongly and see what happens, if you need something to keep the handle from hurting your palm I included the gloves for holding it. From your new Friend, Morson of District 2."

Morson...of District 2, that's Persia's Boyfriend...he is real! I do what the note said, and grip the handle tightly and thorns pop out of the whip. _Amazing_, I thought to myself. I try it out and aim for a boulder. I crack the whip and reduce the boulder to rubble. I use the gloves to retract the whip, which is why I notice there is sharp stone at the end of it, I feel it and I know it's a diamond. "Thank you, Morson! I hope you know that your girlfriend, my best friend, was the best person in all of Panem...", I shout out and I know that the cameras are on me now.

I continue on, and I come to a river and see that some of the rocks are blood stained. I follow them, and they lead me to an empty camp. I see sleeping bags, food, and Derma with her hair tied in a pony tail, practicing fighting on a tree. I hide my whip and put down my stuff down and say, "Hey, Derma.", she turns around surprised.

"Oh, Hi, Echo. I didn't think you'd ever find me.", she says wrapping bandages around her hands and making fists.

"And pass up the oppurtunity of killing you myself, never!" I say getting ready for a hand to hand fight.

"That's funny, you think you're going to kill me...just like Caston did to Persia, and I did to Artimis and Kessie?", she laughs. This makes me mad and I move in close and spit on her! "Oh, a fiesty one, huh!", she releases a whip from beind her showing me that she has my old one.

"How did you..."

"I've been watching you in training, I learned how to fix a broken one and how to make one.". We start to circle with eyes locked on each other.

"Derma, you always were a little girl. Now, put the whip down, you have no idea what you're doing."

"Why should I, so you could get it?"

"Derma, I don't need a whip, badly fixed like that, to kill you... just like I did to Nathine and Jareda." I know I didn't actually kill Nathine, but Derma was in love with him, and just like she mocked me by pointing out Persia's death, I pointed out Nathine's death. This made her angry and she charged. She started throwing punches and I threw them right back. She kicked my side, and I tripped her and made her eat dirt. She threw a spear head into my temple. I pushed her head against a tree. She punched me in the mouth, and I pulled her hair backwards.

This went on for 2-3 minutes until she got far away enough to try and whip me. She cracked it once, but since I'm more experienced I grab the whip and snap it right back at her. She loses control of it and the handle whips her in the eye. "Ah! My eye!" she screams holding her face, "You better pray you win this fight, or I'm gonna torture the hell out of you.", she sighs and picks up the whip, but before she does I pull out mine and show it off. Her jaw drops, and her eyes get big. She drops the whip and tries to run.

"Not this time!" I crack the whip and make sure it wraps around her. I pull her in and she begins to beg.

"Please, don't kill me. I have so much to live for!", she starts to beg.

"Ah, what's the matter Derma? I'm guessing that you didn't pray to win this fight, because now I'm gonna torture the hell out of you!", all this killing and dying has gone straight to my head, because right now I don't feel the guilt I would've had from the beginning of the games. I slowly start to squeeze the handle, and she starts to release sharp squeals of pain. She looks up toward the sky and lets out one last shriek, and she passes out of the pain.

I release her of the whip and using the diamond on the point of the whip to write a message in the dirt for Caston or Excalibar to find next to Derma. I write down "Meet me at the cornucopia, Love Echo!". She starts to come to, and I finish her with a powerful crack of the whip, which wraps around her neck. I release the thorns from the whip, and pull it tightly so she runs out of air, and at that moment her cannon fires. I walk up to her body and look at the girl who killed some of my friends, I spit on her and say, "Pathetic...".

I walk away and realize that I just killed an innocent girl. The girl that I talked to that day on the roof. The girl whose mother is all she has. I remember in the 4th free-for-all, I found Derma hiding in bushes, shaking. She was alone. For some, reason nobody liked her. I decided to help her. We made it to the final five before the other three, besides us, Jenten, Darwin, and Crimson, went on to knocking us out. I just finished off the shy, hated girl hiding in the bushes. I remember the look in her big brown eyes when I found her. She had arrows in her hand but she didn't know how to use them. After we had been knocked out, I taught her how to use them, and in exchange she taught me some stuff from District 5. Now the little twelve year old from three years ago, was dead.

I get my things and start on my way back to the cornucopia. Stupid Caston must of thought that leaving Derma to protect their supplies was enough. Obviously not. I take his iron claws, just in case of we get into close combat. I throw all there food in the river and take some myself.

I end up going up the mountain where Persia and I stayed the last night she was alive, and I see that the hovercraft has just taken Derma's body. I starts to rain and I think it would be better to wait in the cave for the rain to stop. I sneak into the cave. I realize we left Persia's silver parachute, and there is a note attached to it, I didn't even notice it. I pick it up and read it. "Dear Persia, This is a remedy for a fever which you obviously have. It is straight from the District 2 hospital that we run. Think of us when your cured, and we'll be waiting at home. Love, Mom and Dad", it was heart felt and I'm glad that Persia had something from home before she passed. I fall asleep in no time and before you know it I'm awaken by the anthem playing in the rainy sky. I slept through the whole day. I see the one face and it's of the person I was happy to release from these games.

_**District 5: Derma Majester**_

Something different happened tonight after the anthem played again. Claudius Templesmith's, the announcer, voice came on and announced, "Now, That there is only four of you left, we will be serving a very special dinner at the Cornucopia tomorrow, and all four of you are invited. Have a nice day, and may the odds be ever in your favor!", and as quickly as his voice came in, it's out.

Four of us? I only remember that it's Excalibar, Caston, and...oh. I remember now. Trenton from District 8. I saw him when I was running from the cornucopia. I saw him run into the forest without anything._ I appluad the boy from District 8 who scored an 11, he's been able to make it this far without anything_. A cannon fires. _Oh, never mind._

I wake up the next morning and I know that I'm going straight to the cornucopia, because I have a dinner date with one of Panem's eligable bachelors, and one that is soon to be married. I feel like I should do something to show that Persia was my friend, and if I die people will always know. Over the mouth of the cave I carve in, "Here lies the friendship of Echo Ivy and Persia Ross, two mockingjays that seperated to soon."

I locate where the cornucopia might be from the top of the mountain, and I also see dark ominous clouds over it. I pull out some dried fruit, and some of the leftover soup that Akiliya had sent me two days ago. I start walking in the general direction of the cornucopia, and I pass a cave that I was positive wasn't there. This is where Artimis got shot by Derma, and where Artimis was cornered by the cliff wall. There was no huge cave behind us when we saved her. I hear low-pitch screeching voices from inside the cave, and I know what it is, a nest of Bellow Bats. I was once attacked by some in the 2nd free-for-all in the Elite's training ground. The arena was in an underground chasm. They're also Capitol Mutations.

These nasty little creature are bats that don't have eyes. but they can sense anything. Movement, breathing, heartbeats, etc. The edges of their wings can cut through skin, and they have screeches that are really low, so it's sort of like an explosion when they get together. These facts are enough for me to get ready to run when I hear their bellows beginning to get closer.

I start to run and I was right, they were coming out, and nothing I can do can keep them from sensing me. I see some getting closer to me and I can feel their wings slashing my back. I can see more trees, like the ones I found on the first day, and I can hear buzzing. A loud powerful buzzing, and from a cross two rows of trees, I see Excalibar running from Tracker Jackers. Tracker Jackers are the deadliest type of wasps/hornets in the world. Also Capital Mutations.

Chapter 14

He's jumping off fallen logs. I think that this is my chance to get rid of him, but if I attack him I'll have Tracker Jackers, and Bellow Bats on my tail. I see Excalibar uses a slingshot to distract the Tracker Jackers. I remember that I have my whistle, the one sent to me to get rid of the Noice Crackers. I find it in my pocket and struggle to get it in my mouth. Once it's in, I blow on it so hard, the Bellow Bats start to retreat quickly and I see that some of the Tracker Jackers are falling dead one by one.

I see Excalibar run towards me. I expect to be attacked, so I bring out the whip. He stops and quickly and catches his breath. "Echo...you're still alive!", he cheers and tries to get near me, but after being here for a week and a half, I'm not used to getting touched.

"Excalibar, what happened after you and Artimis seperated?" I say, still having the whip ready. He explains the story on how they got seperated by the rhinoca-bear. He says he soon meet up a couple times with Caston and they've been having fights with no big results. I tell him what had happened since he seperated from Artimis. He was distraught when I told him about Persia's death. After our conversation we agreed to team up until Caston was dead, and then we are free to turn our weapons on each other.

We walk to the cornucopia, and I see the spot where Juno was killed. I could still see the blood drenched grass from where I axed Issac in the head. If that's here, then I'm near the platform from where I started. Where I saw Sestra blow herself up. _I forgot the ball,_ I remember, that's why I came back, and met Persia, Excalibar, and Crimson. "Wait up a minute, Excalibar, I need to get something." I see a bush of flowers and I pick some. Excaliber follows me around the other platforms. I put a flower on each platform that belonged to the people who had died, except for Persia and Sestra, I put four on theirs. The platform that belonged to Sestra was still scorched.

Excalibar patted my back, and I let him, because I know I could've trusted him. I hear a loud roar, and I see Caston running towards us with his spear ready to throw. The roar didn't come from him or the Noise Crackers chasing him, which as soon as he started to go down to the cornucopia, stopped. We went straight down to end his life in this arena. Then I realize that that the roar came from the earth. It was an earthquake. The ground was opening around the cornucopia. I didn't know what to do it was just horrible. I couldn't stand at all, I was falling on all fours constantly. I see a crack in the floor opening up before me, so I know I have to get myself, and Excalibar across safely. I grab his arm and jump over the opening. We're going left and right trying to avoid the opening cracks in the earth below us. As soon as I reach the cornucopia, the earth's trembling seems to soften, and then fades away completely. It starts to drizzle, and the gray clouds above us start to crack with thunder.

We climb the cornucopia and meet Caston on the top. The earthquake was caused by the gamemakers, obviously. Excalibar instantly jumps on to Caston and they fight. I didn't know what to do. I told Excalibar to hold him down so I can kill Caston. "I'm trying!" he yelled out everytime. Then I got the bow and arrow in perfect position to hit Caston, but he sees me, and when I shoot the arrow, he tosses Excalibar in front of himself and I hear a low grunt come from him. The arrow pierced his heart. Caston pushes him off and he jumps on me. _This is it, Caston just won the 55th annual Hunger Games, the odds were always in his favor_, I thought as I saw my whole life in the arena flash before my eyes.

"I killed Persia, Urwin, Trenton, Lilia, and now I'm going to kill you!", he said. _What was with his team and mocking me?_

I can see that the sky above me is dark and I can see sparks in the cloud. I spit in his face and say, "I killed Jareda, Derma, Issac, Richest, and Nathine your kills aren't anything compared to mine!".

"I'm going to enjoy doing this!", he growls and he raises up the spear. I'm not down for the count though. He stabs it down into where I am, but I move my head, I push him off and I get up. I plunge one of Persia's arrows into his back. He shouts in pain but it's not enough to kill him. I grab Crimson's sword and drive it through his shoulder and pin him to the cornucopia. He refuses to die, so I pull a dagger out of Excalibar's pocket and pin his leg down to the cornucopia.

Caston screams out in pain, but he's still alive and cursing at me. I didn't know what else to do. I hear something beeping, I look up and see a parachute, and I see a rod with a spike for an end. It's for me. No note, but the side says it all, it's a lightning rod. I grab Excalibar and throw him over the side of the cornucopia making sure he lands on my pack that I threw done before him.

Caston is yelling, kicking and is trying to get detached from the cornucopia. It seems to be helping him because the dagger and the sword seem to wiggle out, but I did not come all this way, and lose all my friends, to lose. I grabbed the lightning rod and shout out, " Hey Caston, Persia's arrow, Crimson's sword, Excalibar's knife, and my lightning rod! Think of this as a reunion of parting friends!", and I push it into his right sholder and I make sure it finds its way through the cornucopia. He's stuck for sure. He realize's what I just did, and he starts to yell out, "Don't leave me to die this way! You bastard!".

I jump off and land on the packs. I pick them up and I carry Excalibar away from the cornucopia. I don't dare look back, when I hear the lightning hit, I hear Caston's scream for a short period, and zap, he was dead. Everything on the cornucopia went flying into the air, and his cannon fired.

I dragged Excaliber to his platform and I waited for him to die, because he was on the fast track to doing that. I sat next to him, and he started to talk. "Echo, If you win, tell Carmenella that I love her, now and forever."

"I will..", I look him in the eyes and say, then I wonder, _what does he mean by "If"_, and it hits me. Well, actually Excalibar stabs me.

Chapter 15

Excalibar just stabbed me in the stomach. I'm bleeding out quickly, so I look at him and I tell him what I've always thought of him. "Excalibar, you were my hero. I looked up to you, I saw you like a brother.", I started to choke, feeling the blood pouring out of my mouth.

"I'm sorry Echo, I have to go back and see Carmenella! I'm sorry for everything. Forgive me?", he says crying, with his face covered in blood stains. I remember saying that if I made it to the final two with Excalibar, I would give up my life so he can continue on. It makes sense, because out of all of us, Excalibar would probably be the best Elite. Then it would be Persia, Urwin, Crimson, and then me. I guess I'm going to stay true to what I said. Excalibar is going to win this, now I'm just going to close my eyes, slip away, and then meet up with all the other Elites in that better place people call death.

"I do.", these are my last words to him. When I look up I see that the spear that Caston tried to impale me with, is coming down with a lot of velocity. I see it land right next to me and in Excalibar. The cannon fires and I close his eyes. I start to sing safe and sound again because I know I'm going to die right know as well. I hear trumpets playing and Claudius Templesmith is saying something, everything is fading out to me, ao I can barely understand.

I fall back and I see that I'm being lifted into the sky by the hovercraft above me. _What's the use I'm already going to die, and if there's a chance of saving me, just let me die. All my friends are dead._ All I know is everything is fading away.

I wake up and find that I'm no longer in the arena. I'm on a table in what I think is a hospital. The door slides open and Akiliya walks in. She looks happy to see me. "Echo, congradulations! You won!", she says while hugging me.

"Wait, where's Sestra...and Excalibar...and Persia?", I look around hysterically to see if they're here and about to pop out and surprise me.

"Echo, don't you remember?", Akiliya sits down next to me. "They died...in the arena...with you."

"I died?"

"Only a matter of minutes, but they were able to revive you.", she explains.

"No, you're playing a trick on me, Persia and Excaliber are going to pop out of those curtains, huh? And Sestra...Sestra is probably home right now eating dinner with her family.", I run to the curtains and push them apart to see that no one is there. I see a window, I can see that I'm high up, because I can see towers and the top of buildings. I was still in the Capital. "If they're not there, then I'm guessing Sestra isn't back home in District 7. What happened, Akiliya?", my eyes tear up.

"You won the Hunger Games.", this statement alone answers all my questions, all my friends were dead. I get walked to the room where I lived in the week before the games. When I'm inside I realize that my wound might still be bleeding, I lift up my shirt but nothing is there. It's like the games had been wiped away from my physical appearence and some from my memory.

I take a shower, and I dress, I jump onto the bed. I start this weird mixture of laughing and crying. I start off by crying, and then it becomes a scene. I'm laughing just because I can. Everything becomes a joke to me. Seran comes rushing into the room, "What's the matter?", she says in her high-pitched voice.

"I just won the Hunger Games!", I say laughing with tears in my eyes. Later on that night I try going to sleep knowing what dreams and nightmares await me. I start to countdown the people who were in the arena with me to help me sleep.

_**District 1: Richest Wave**_

_**District 1: Crimson War**_

_**District 2: Excalibar Precense**_

_**District 2: Persia Ross**_

_**District 3: Darwin Bolt**_

_**District 3: Nessa Wire**_

_**District 4: Caston Segwada**_

_**District 4:**_ _**Jareda Asleen **_

_**District 5: Issac Stroid**_

_**District 5: Derma Majester**_

_**District 6: Nathine Galaghr**_

_**District 6: Caitlyn Calliton**_

_**District 7: Sestra Celenova**_

_**District 8: Trenton Venoose**_

_**District 8: Lilia Harvord**_

_**District 9: Alex Zecko**_

_**District 9: Clydessa Dardez**_

_**District 10: Urwin Carnivous**_

_**District 10: Kessie Firstina**_

_**District 11: Artimis Zing**_

_**District 11: Jason Zing**_

_**District 12: Jenten Mao**_

_**District 12: Juno Badge**_

I miss them all. I loved all of them, even though they turned evil in the games, it wasn't there fault. It was the Capital's fault for pinning us there against our will. _Pin!_ I got up and turn on the light, and searched for Persia's pin and my necklace, and there they were on the nightstand. I feel safe again, knowing that the two mockingjays were back together again. I held on to the pin, which to me symbolizes my best friend's spirit being with me.

I woke up the next day and was sent to my prep team, to be prepped for the presentation of the victor, which is me. They all start to cry, because they truly are happy to see me. They get me ready, and they send me off to the head stylist, Tigris. I practically run into the room and yell out, "Tigris, I'm ba-". It's not Tigris in the room, but Stone, Sestra's stylist. "Hello, Stone, where's Tigris?", I ask.

"She was fired, but she told me to give this to you if you won!", Stone says handing me an envelope. I take a card out, and it has a paw print as a design. I open the card and it says, "Congradulations, Echo. If you are reading this you've won the Hunger Games. Don't worry about me, but for now listen to Stone I left him a design made especially for you. It's simple, but it's something not a lot of designers do anymore, it's unique...like you. Good Luck, and I'll see you at the banquet for your sponsers. Love, Tigris".

I felt lucky to have known her and glad that I will see her again. "Let's do this Stone!", I say. He gets me prepared just as quick as Tigris did.

Chapter 16

"Ladies and Gentlemen! The winner of the 55th Annual Hunger Games...Echo Ivy!", Caesar Flickerman cheers on while I walk down the steps to my seat.

"Hello again, Caesar!" I say.

"Hello to you, too. As you know you've won the Hunger Games, that's one title on it's own, but you won a very special one. Do you know why?" he asks me, I can feel the cameras zoom in on me.

"Yes, because I beat every other Elite." I say nodding my head.

"Yes, what a smart boy you are. Now that means you're the best Elite in all of Panem. I mean your smart, compassionate, agile, strong, and really good looking!", the audience goes crazy, "Come on we got some clips, let's show him what we're talking about. We'll start out with agility.", a monitor shows a clip of me running from Crimson and doing a perfect jump over the fallen tree. "Now let's show him compassionate!", a clip of me helping Persia, and singing to Excalibar and her. "Now strong!" a clip of me breaking Jareda's neck, and killing Issac, Caston, Richest, and Derma. "let's move on to smart." It shows my final moments in the arena. Caston pinned to the cornucopia, and me "strategically" placing Excalibar on the platform where the spear later landed on him. "And good-looking...well your the one sitting in front of us!"

"Thank you, I appreciate it. Especially from a city filled with beautiful people!" Everyone applauds themselves. _Yeah, a city of stuck-up, self-centered..._Caesar interupts my train of thought, "You're also very talented. That singing, it was superb. Where did you learn to sing like that! And the song itself made me cry so much when you sang it to Persia! I almost cried all over myself and Claudius!", he laughs and so does the audience.

"Singing comes natural to me. It's probably heredity, my mother is just as good as me or even better. The song was taught to me by my mother and she was taught by her grandmother."

"Well can I ask you a couple a questions, is that okay?"

"You ask the questions you want!", I answer.

"Okay, How did you know where to put Excalibar so he could get killed by the spear?"

"Actually, I didn't know that would happen, I thought Excalibar would die on his own of the bleeding."

"Wow! So it was just fate that helped you win! It sounds like there is someone up there keeping an eye out for you!"

"I guess that there is, so many people wanted to help me win. It was either that or the odds were really in my favor.", I state and the crowd laughs.

"Yes, Persia and Sestra. Now tell me how did you feel when you saw Sestra...blow herself...sky high?"

"I felt like giving up on everything, like I should've stepped off the plate and blown myself up, but I knew there were people back home depending on me to return."

"How long did you know Persia?"

"Since our first training in the Elite Ground. I meet her while we were practicing in an old Beach Arena. We teamed up and got to the end, but we were knocked out. She really was my best friend."

After an hour of clips of me and answering questions we come to the conclusion. Caesar says "This our last question, are you ready?"

"Shoot..."

"How do you feel about all your friends that died in the arena?" cameras zoom in on me, and people all over are sitting on the edge of their chairs.

"That's not a hard question to answer," I start off saying, " I respected all of them. I loved them all. When it came down to it we were always a family, we could always depend on each other. I feel that they are the lucky ones. They are all in a better place. I remember that Persia told me to lean her against the tree so she could see her last sunset. To me that was the only beauty in this world, and I feel that every one of the Elites knew how to appreciate this beauty. Now everytime I see the sunset or sunrise I will always think of them, and the fun times we've had together. I will look at the sun and know that each of my friends is safe and sound."

_**The End**_


	2. Chapter 2

_Safe & Sound_

Chapter 1

We all stand for the Anthem of Panem. We stand through the history of our country and how "wonderful" it is. Ever since the reaping three years ago, I bear total and complete hatred towards the Capital, and it's politicians. We all sit down, because the Escort, Seran Arrow, is about to begin this horrible ceremony. She stands on tall shoes that make it look like it's harder for her to walk. Her wood brown mini dress tops a longer dark green one. Her hair is down and it practically looks like a sheild. She always dresses like a crazy tree, in honor of the tributes that have died under her watch. She pulls out a name from the girl's bowl and then the boy's bowl. While she does this I have a horrible flashback to the reaping three years ago. In that reaping the name for the girls belonged to one of two of my bestfriends, Venice. She was sent up, and before Seran could read the name for the boys, my other best friend volunteered to be the boy tribute of District 7 to help protect Venice. I return to this point in time and she is about to randomly chose which envelope to open first, the boys or the girls.

She grabs the envelope, kisses it, and says "May the odds be ever in your favor!". She opens it, and she nods. "Echo Ivy!" The whole square goes silent and turns to me. I'm not worried one bit about the Hunger Games, not after all the training I've recieved, if anything this is really unfair to the other District tributes. I get up off my seat and walk up to the stage. The Peacekeepers don't bother to guard me on the way up, they know I'll go without a fight. I don't know what to say about the girl who gets chosen.

"Ladies, you next!", she says and looks over to the side with the girls in it. She studies the card and then smirks. "Clair Orchid...", she says. I know this name, and the odd of me winning have just became 22 out of 24.

"Wait!", someone yells out in the crowd of girls everyone turns. "I volunteer!" I scan the area for the idiot who just volunteered to be sent to their death. I look and there is a circle of girls around one who stands up off her seat. Sestra! She runs up to the stage and climbs up to the stage and yells out again, "I volunteer as tribute!". My odds just droped from 22 to 0 out of 24. I couldn't kill my(figurative) little sister.

"Okay, we have our tributes of District 7! Echo Ivy and...Sestra Celenova!", Seran calls out the names again, as Sestra and I stand in front of everyone in District 7. I can see my father holding my mother as she weeps hysterically. My older brother next to them, he stares at us and his eyes are red with anger, because he knows he can't do anything for me now. Sestra moves in closer to me and hugs me. I'm still angry with her because of the stunt she just pulled.

Seran, our escort, moves in front of us and announces that we will now be allowed to see our visitors in the Justice Building. We are walked in while our new mentor, Akiliya Becca, talks to Seran. I walk in my room, where I will await my visitors. First it's my mom and dad, along with my little sister, Brazilia.

"We'll be rooting for you!" my mom said holding in tears.

"We'll be waiting to see you back here, don't worry if you remember everything the training has taught you, you will come back.", my dad says assuring me that I was going to make it. I hold Brazilia and cradle her in my arms, as she coos and giggles, I couldn't help but think that this would be the last time I'd ever see her. The peacekeepers pull them out and I kiss Brazilia goodbye, and the door slams. A minute of silence passes and my brothers rush in and surround me. My little brother, Leo, grabs on to me and he holds on while my older brother, Arslo, and I talk.

"You are going to be okay," he says grabbing me by the shoulders and shaking me, "as long as you use what the training taught you."

"I remember every single thing, but it's not me you should worry about me, take care of Brazilia and Leo!", as I say his name he squeezes me harder. "Leo!", I yell at him, "Listen to me. I'm probably not gonna come back..."

"Echo, he doesn't want to hear this!" Arslo stops me.

"No, he has to know!" I continue, "If I don't come back, you have to promise to take care of Brazilia, and yourself. Pay attention to everything Dad and Arslo teach you! Promise!" he nods. The poor thing is mute, doesn't talk for anything. I never knew why, and I might never will. "Arslo, when you leave, can you ask Sestra's dad to come?"

"I will, but for now good-bye, Jabberjay." he reaches over and puts his favorite necklace around my neck. It's a mockingjay in a gold circle and an arrow in its beak.

"I can't take it, it's yours." I protest.

"Think of it as a family emblem, and a district token. Plus it's good luck. I know how much you like to sing, and this little fellow represents that." I was ready to start crying and then the Peacekeepers come in and pulls them out.

"Take care of the family, both of you, I'll be back, I promise." I yell out a lie after they leave. Right after they leave my friend, Clair, walks in. She was supposed to be the girl tribute until Sestra, volunteered for the spot.

"I'm sorry, that I'm not going in with you..." she said muffling the words by covering her mouth, so I wouldn't hear that she was going to cry.

"Don't worry you couldn't do anything about it." I hug her before she starts to explode with tears. Sestra volunteered for her and I'm still mad at her. Now that she is in it, it means that I'm going to have to try to protect my dear friend with my life.

"I came to give you this, they all pitched in, they bought it as soon as you were sent in here." she says handing me a card with all my friends name on it. "They knew you wouldn't have enough time to see us all.", She was right and even right now I only have about 15 minutes left to still see people. We talk more, and she encourages me that it isn't unfair to use all the things I've been taught as an Elite. This is something we are trained in, to survive a Hunger Game. What were the chances that both Elites of District 7 would be chosen as tributes. This is absolute craziness. A couple more friends walk in after her, and we all enjoy our last conversation. "Remember, you don't have to kill anyone, you just have to survive.", Clair recounts to hug goodbye, and they all leave, only to be followed by Sestra's dad.

"I'm sorry, that your daughter volunteered to help me.", I say looking down at my feet knowing that he might be holding a grudge on me for somehow getting his daughter to face certain death.

"She did do it to protect you, but she also said that as her last wish, she doesn't want me to be angry at you. I wasn't in the first place, I know she sees you like a big brother, and that's why she did it.", he assures me that he isn't angry at me.

"I promise that she will be back, I am going to protect her, even if it means my death.", I look him in the eye. I can tell that it makes him feel better. The Peacekeepers escort him out and I'm off to the train. On the way ther I have another flashback. It was watching my friend, Joel volunteering to help Venice in the 52nd annual Hunger Games. I remember seeing him get killed on the screen in the town square. I really hope that this volunteering business won't end up like the one from three years past. Joel made the same promise to protect Venice, just like I promised to protect Sestra. Hopefully I don't fail like he did. I hope...

Chapter 2

I walk into the train station being escorted by the Peacekeepers, and the train awaits us. I step on the plate waiting for the door to open for us. I look back to see what I'm leaving behind, I see my family and friends looking at us as with despair in their eyes. The door slides open and we're hit with cool air from what Seran says is called an air conditioner. I walk in and rush to a window to see us pulling out of the station. When I reach it, my family has passed already.

I walk into my quarters for the trip to the Capital, and I practically drool over the rooms features. I haven't been in one of these trains since I was 13, when I had just been chosen to be part of a group called the Elites. They sent us to the Capital, as part of an examianation, which I passed. Two kids from each district were sent as part of it, randomly. We've had training sessions since then, but we don't go in these fancy trains anymore. It's always a hovercraft. Just thinking about being an Elite scares me. Especially what I have to do in case I'm ever chosen as a tribute in the Hunger Games. I can't even think about it, so I do anything to get my mind off of it.

I walk into the shower and spend at most twenty-five minutes. I push all the buttons that I remember using. When I come out, I smell like a whole bouquet of different flowers, and the shower is litered with dirt and pine needles that we're still left on me. They left clothes in the closet space in the room, and I don't remember that being there when I came in. Whatever. I chose a simple black shirt, and jeans. I put on the Mockingjay necklace, and head off to the dining hall. There I find Akiliya talking to Sestra, this is there first time meeting, but I've known Akiliya for a long time.

I first met Akiliya when one of my assignments as an Elite was to learn and study from a past winner. I was given Akiliya to learn with. She was the only one in her game that killed people. The careers from her games all died in a mountain explosion, which did wipe off most of the tributes. All she had was a pack and a single rope. She turned it into a lasso and used it to kill off the rest of the tributes. I also liked how she got people to believe she was a weak contendor. She used sadness, and "depression" to convince people she wasn't worth the kill.

I get to the buffet and stack my plate with so much food, yet I contained myself so I can impress our Escort, Seran. She has as much power over sponsers as Akiliya. I sit down with all them at the table, and they are talking about what we have to do to look appealing to sponsers. I've had this talk with Akiliya already so I can sit back, eat, and listen. I already know this stuff anyways. As an Elite, I'm trained in almost everything imaginable. I already planned what I want for us to wear for the presentation while I was taking shower. The pine needles were my inspiration for this.

"So what your saying is that I'll need to pretty up more than I usually do?", Sestra asks questioning it. Around District 7 no one usually "pretties" up, girls at school usually keep there hair down, or in a pony tail. I know what to do to my hair, I know that to the Capital, the bigger the better. A boy's hair is simple, spike it up, or hike it down. I'm thinking about doing something completely different.

"That's exactly what I'm saying, just ask Echo over here, he knows about it, after all he is an Elite.", Akiliya answers her pointing me out.

"An Elite?", she asks looking at me more intrested than she has ever.

"It's nothing big...", I tell her. I never really told Sestra about my Elite Status, even though I trained her with some weapons, that I keep hidden.

"Nothing big!", Seran cuts in, "Elites are something really big in the districts and even in the Capital!", she exclaims.

"Wait, what's an Elite?", Sestra asks finally.

"An Elite is someone who is knowingly being trained by the Capital, and in the event of another war, they are are used as leaders in the Capital's side. They are only 24, two from each district.", Akiliya says as if she's making me look a lot better, "We are going to use his Elite status to help us get sponsers for you two."

"It honestly is nothing, Sestra.", I say to her so she ignores it, but she keeps pushing it.

"It is something...this is what's going to keep you alive, which tribute is going to mess with an Elite!", she's overjoyed.

"I know it'll keep me alive, but what's gonna keep you alive!", I get up and slam my hands down on the table.

"What do you mean, what's gonna keep me alive, it's you who has to live, you're an Elite.", she says jumping up as well. "Am I right?", she looks around and everyone has averted there eyes to me, they want me to tell her the truth.

I sit down, and I tell her, "Sestra, Elite's are killing machines. If an Elite is ever chosen to be part of the Hunger Games, it's his or her job to win...no matter what."

"Tell her the rest...", Akiliya tells me softly.

"Tell me what?", Sestra lowers her volume.

"It's my job to kill my district partner, as long as he or she is not another Elite.", I finally say. The whole cart goes silent. Seran gets up walks over to a velvet couch and continues doing her make up. Akiliya looks down at her plate and continues to eat.

"Well, then I don't have to protect you anymore? Because as soon as you see me in the arena you'll have to kill me?", Sestra sits back down.

"No, not true, there is a loop hole.", Seran says with a smile holding back a giggle, as if we were going to thank her for her knowledge. We all look at her waiting for the answer, especially me because I really don't want to kill my figuritive little sister. "Well, if you have to know, in order for an elite to avoid killing their district partner, his or her partner has to get a score of nine or higher."

I see hope, but all she has to do is get a high score, and I've taught Sestra a couple of weapons. Iron claws, swords, and bows and arrows. "Seran! Is there anywhere on the train were we could train?", I ask her in a hurry.

"There is a cart in the back.", she answers.

"Thank you, Seran!", I hug here abruptly, grab Sestra, and I rush off to the back.

In the cart, I showed how to use her weapons. When she was able to get a hang of it, I let her go to her room to rest. As I was about to leave I spot a whip, and a thick wooden target. In no time I pull the whip out and break the target, just to see if I could still do it.

I look around for a scythe, which was the first weapon I had ever used in my life. Besides an axe, but I just used axes to cut down a tree. I cut targets with the scythe, leaving no target untouched. I go to iron claws, which are just metallic shackles that have long iron blades coming from them. I use them to finish the rest of the cut up targets. I spend more time in the back cart practicing, having fun with the weapons. I eventually look at the clock and see that it's 11 at night. I walk back to the main cart feeling accomplished. It's dark except for the lit up screen of a television. It's the re-run of the reapings in all the Districts. Right now it's just Caesar Flickerman talking about something Capital related.

Akiliya and Seran walk in from nowhere and we start watching re-runs of the reapings in other districts. It begins with District 1. Richest Wave and Crimson War. Wait I know them they're also Elites like me. District 2, Excaliber Presence and Persia Ross. _They're Elites also_. Something was definately weird. I saw the tributes continue Districts 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12. They were all Elites.

Except for Sestra, and the boy from District 11, all of them were Elites. I was scared just seeing all these people get chosen and I was glad that Sestra didn't see this. "How do you feel, Echo?", Akiliya asked knowing all the faces of the Elites.

"I feel like I'm about to have to kill 22 of my closest friends...", I say staring at the screen distantly.

Chapter 3

The announcer, Caeser Flickerman, interupted my train of thought. Seran turns it off, and tells me to go to bed "tomorrow is a really big, big, big day". I'm pretty sure that they were discussing our strategy since the old one about using my Elite status is a bust.

After my shower, I go to sleep to have a dream about all my elite friends, and especially which ones were going to fall at my hands or whip. I dream about my first day at the Elite training building at the Capital. Persia, tribute from district 2, helped me on the first Free-for-all battle, all for one and one for all in a pretend Arena. She and I teamed up when I caught her half dead of deadly poisons from a Noise Cracker. We went on to kill(knock out) 6 opponents.

It's followed by a dream of the day I met Jareda from District 4, she was amazing when it came to swinging her mace around. We met when we caught each other in our second Free-For-All. We met during a sunset at a cliff in a mountainous arena. The mace caught me offguard, I didn't expect it to come from such a beautiful girl like herself. We knocked each other out and we spent the day with each other when we were resting in the training building. I remember that at first she was mad at me for eliminating her from the game. Apparently she was trying to talk more to her District partner, she eventually told me she liked him. I told her I would make it up to her, and I was able to sneak us out of the training building, which apparently is hidden in a flower-filled plain. I can honestly say that if it wan't for her crush on Caston, I could have fallen in love with her. I guess we just weren't meant for each other.

They eventually became a couple. They lasted for about a month or two, and poof it was over. Once I had found this out, I thought I should've revisited my feelings for her, but those feelings weren't there anymore.

I woke up in a cold sweat after a nightmare of me killing Excalibar, one of the Elites I idolize. Excalibar reminds me of my own brother. Caston, from District 4, looks like my older brother, I remember the first time I saw him, I almost called out, "Arslo!", that's how much they look alike. I took a shower and went to breakfast and saw that Sestra, was looking out the window watching the scenery. It was mountainous and the train tracks went over a lake. I gave her a hug and told her, "Sestra, we're going to have to win the crowd over today, you understand that right?"

"I do!", she says hugging me back.

"We have to work together so you can win!", I say.

"I don't care if I win, you are more important than me, you have to win!"

"No! You have a lot more to live for...you have a little sister that depends on you to return, and your Father is more broken than anyone in District 7. He already lost your brother, and your Mom. That poor man doesn't deserve to lose another loved one in his life.", I tell her assertively, and she nods because she knows it's true. We start to pull into the station, I can see the crowds. I start to wave and blow kisses to them, some of them pretend to catch my kisses, and I look at Sestra to join me. She does, and she's more of a hit than I would I've thought.

I see that the other trains have pulled in and I see the tributes of all the other districts outside and I'm filled with happiness that I see all of them again since the last time we met which is about a months ago, but this time there is much more on the line. I run towards Persia and give her the biggest hug, while Sestra goes with Seran to her room.

"Persia!", I say cheering.

"Hey Jabberjay, How have you been!", she says with the same tone of voice I had.

"I'm good let's go say hi to others!", I say and we walk off to meet the tributes from Districts 11. Artimis and Jason. It turns out that Jason is Artimis' older brother, he told me that he came here to protect his little sister, and I understand why he would come.

I look around and see that Jareda from District 4 is here and she's talking to District 5's very own Issac and Derma. I look back and I see her holding hands with someone, her district partner, Caston. They're back together. I felt happy for them, and also a bit jealousy, I don't know why but I did. I disregard the feeling and keep myself in a good mood for when I talk to them right now. I walk up to Jareda, and greet them both. I hug her, and I tell Caston hello. The whole time they do not let go of each other's hand. "Echo, how have you been!", Jareda says.

"I've been great, and I can see you two are too!", I direct attention to their new relationship.

"Yeah, we are happy together. I'm happy that were happy together.", Caston says laughing. Jareda grabs Persia's hand and asks Caston for permission to go talk to someone. He allows it and turns to me. "So how have you been?", he puts his hands in his pocket. and he sounds a bit angry.

"Good, why so angry, Caston?", I ask him.

"Because I want you to stay away from Jareda.", he says in an angry hushed tone, while he grabs my wrist.

"What...why?", I say holding in the look of pain on my face.

"You know why. You like Jareda. You're the reason why we broke up in the first place.", he tightens his grip.

"What are you talking about, I don't know why you guys broke up in the first place."

"You dirty liar, I broke up with her because she cheated on me with you!"

"That's stupid. It's true I had feelings for her once but not anymore, I'm glad you guys are back together.", I say and he lets go. He's grip has strengthened since the last time I saw him.

"Sorry, I'm just really self-concious about her, since I heard you kissed her."

"On the cheek, but that was a long time ago.", he still looks suspicious. "Caston, I swear I wouldn't do anything to come in between you two, ever.", He turns back around, and I leave. I walk away and except that they are happy together, they want to remain that way, but they are in the worst place to be in love. In a fight to the death match where only one person can win. I feel depressed by the fact that not both of them could live, or I'm going to kill them.

I walk away and I pass by my own idol, Excalibar, He says hello, but I can feel so much sadness in me, I ignore him. As soon as I get to my room I start to scream my head off. I know that in this moment my anger towards the Capital. An hour later after releasing everything, I go to lunch and after I get to go get dressed for the presentation of the Tributes to the Capital. I get preped by my Prep Team, which is made up of a Andreas. A woman with purple-skin, pink teeth, and is wearing a smock covered in feathers. Harmonio, he looks like a snake with a forked tongue, and red dyed eyes, his smock is a lot more colorful, it kinda looks like the colors of a poisonous animal. Then last but not least, Calpurnia. She looks like an odd mix of the other two, she's a snake bird, with surgically implanted feathers, and redish-pink tattoos that make her look like she has scales.

They talk about upcoming social events with the rest of the other Prep teams that involves a lot of drama, or I think that's what it is. Something about someone having an affair with a married woman, and vice-versa, either way I tune them out. They are finally done and I head off to see my head designer/stylist.

Her apperance surprises me. She has surgically implanted whiskers, and other stuff to make her look like a cat, or a tiger. "Hello, I'm your head designer, Tigris.", she looks at me with her spotted eyes and says. This explains the extensive work to make her look like a "tiger". This is far beyong the Capital's beauty standard. This is what going over board in the Capital looks like.

"I'm the piece of meat you'll be designing today and for the rest of the next week, my name is Echo." I say to her as she laughs.

"You are District 7?", she asks and I nod, "Well, I have an idea of camouflage styling...what do you think?" I tell her my idea, she agrees and calls up Sestra's Stylist and they agree. I gave her my idea of anciet grecko-roman apperal, like I've read of in books about Ancient Greece. We also get to use a wreath of leaves. The plan goes that I represent the fall, with brown, orange, and a couple of green leaves. Sestra's representing spring, she'll have flowers and bright green leaves in her hair. She's going to have her hair dyed bright green and mines going to be red with yellow highlights.

While Tigris, was putting the clothes on me, I start to talk to her, "I'm sorry that I shot down your camouflague idea."

"Don't worry about it, It wasn't even my idea, why else would I ask you what you thought if I liked it. Honestly it was hideous, and I know that you Elites are also trained to know what would go together!", she laughs, and as it fades out, it turns into a purr. She finished in an hour or so, and we still have time.

"Tigris, this is better than I would've ever imagined!", I cheer. It looks like a humanly shaped tree. The drape I wear is brown, and the my hair is filled with orange autumn leaves, just for District 7, lumber. Each district has to be dressed to match what their district is leading supplier on. It shows me off more than I thought it would, it makes me look gorgeous, this is for sure to get me some sponsers.

"Oh, It's my pleasure Echo, but you can't go out there without the finishing touch.", she ties my mockingjay necklace around my neck and she blows some dirt off of it. "Now you might want to go to your platform you can socialize with the other tributes while you wait."

"Thank you again, Tigris!", I say when I hug her.

"Your welcome now let me take care of some things and I'll be in the stands watching, and remember when they announce your district untie your hair from right here.", she points it out and she sends me on my way. I feel and it's a well hidden ribbon that holds up some of the fake hair up. She says that it'll be a secret for now. When I do untie it, and if I really want to know what it is, I have to look at the screen where we will be shown. I make my way out of the room and straight into the backstage area where we will wait to be taken out and presented.

Chapter 4

I walk to my Chariot and I see that I'm the only one here except for District 2. I walk over to see that Excalibar's sitting down reading a magazine. "Oh, hey Jabberjay," he says while he puts the magazine down, "I haven't seen you in a long time, how have you been?" he stood up, and I noticed his costume. He looked like an over-exposed Peacekeeper, since he's from District 2, even though they are masonry, they're the district that supplies every district with Peacekeepers. He was just as exposed as me, and it makes me feel a little less self-concious since he seems to walk around like if he usually wears this amount of clothes.

"Oh, I've been good, and you?", I answer him.

"Wonderful, although, I think you're lying."

"What do you mean, I'm perfectly fine!", I burst out.

"I saw the despair in your eyes, and the blue feeling in your face when I passed by you. Just tell me what's wrong, Jabberjay.", he points out.

"Please! Stop calling me 'Jabberjay'!", I try to change the subject.

"Fine, Echo! Just tell me what's eating you? I'll understand if you want to keep it a secret, and if you still tell me, then I'll keep it on the down low. Just tell me.", Excalibar says, and I have to tell someone.

"Fine! I don't feel right about this Hunger Game with all the Elites. We've practiced this before, but never a real one. I need to protect my friend Sestra, so she can go home, but I also don't want to kill anyone. I know all of you guys, and your styles of fighting, and I know that I won't be able to go into this arena without having to kill one or two."

"Calm down, I won't tell anybody. Don't worry, I understand, I don't want to kill any one of you guys, either, but I have someone to go home to now. Her name is Carmenella. She's about your age. She's the best, there is no girl who can beat her." He goes on to tell of his District 2 love named Carmenella. That as soon as both their names are taken out of the reaping, he's going to marry her. I am really happy for him, I see him like an older brother, when my own isn't there, so that's why I look up to Excalibar, even though we rarely talk at all. I know that we think a lot alike, but sometimes we could be sitting next to each other, yet be a million miles apart. I hope he wins, I mean if I fail to protect Sestra and she dies, then I don't want to return home. I would probably form an allience and then when it's down to Excalibar and I, I will take myself out of the game, so he could continue on with his wedding.

More people start to arrive and I talk to District 3 tributes, Nessa and Darwin. They are some of the smartest people I know since they are from the technology district.

"Hello, Echo! How are you! It's been so long, and I would express to you my feeling of excitement to see you again, but I won't. If we were some place else, I would, but as soon as we're in the training ground we are enemies. I'm sorry, Echo!", Nessa says.

"It's okay, Nessa. As long as I know we were friends before the training.", I say and she nods. I leave them and find Sestra.

I walk over to her and she is talking to Nathine and Caitlyn, from district 6. They are both dressed like a mechanical mix of human and vehicles. The crowd starts to cheer so we are about to start. They start off with District 1-12, so we have time. "District 1!", Caesar Flickerman says. Crimson and Richest look like medieval King and Queen. "District 2!", Excalibar is trying to pump up the crowd while Persia sits down filing her nails, not caring at all. It gets the crowd to cheer more so they can get Persia's attention.

"Hey, when we're on the platform and they put the spotlight on us that's when we untie our hair.", Sestra reminds me.

"Okay.", I say, already knowing.

"My designer said that he and your designer have agreed on it."

"District 6", the announcer cheers out as well with the crowd, while District 6 is shown off. Sestra and I run onto the chariot's platform and wait to be called out, and we hold on to each other. I feel the spotlight hits us, and before Clauduis Templesmith announces us, the crowd goes wild, and then he announces us, we look out and release the tied hair and from our hair hangs glimmering extensions that reflects all the colors of our hair, and the crowd practically explodes with applause. I can see us on the monitor taking our poses and I make sure to wink and wave at people in the crowd.

I have another flashback to the day my two friends were being presented. They both looked ridiculus in big tree costumes. If they weren't in that situation they would've laughed about it, like we usually did. Every year District 7's tributes have to be dressed like trees, it's really irratating. I remember both of them hudling together, they were both scared, I can only imagine what they were thinking when they saw each other on the screen. I remember the pain of seeing them on the chariot, just like me.

I come back from my flashback and we're pulled in to the stage in front of the main building, and I watch everyone else pull in behind us. Out of everyone, I think we were the most popular. The President steps out, says his speech, the Panem anthem plays out, and we are taken back. I step off the chariot to be caught by Jareda. She looks beautiful in her mermaid costume. She was popular because of her relationship status with Caston. She told me how good I looked and that she would like to have an alliance with me when we are in the games. I told her I would think about it, but really I was going to deny her the first time I see her in the training center.

Sestra and I walk into the elevator, which is really weird for us because we never really see these back in the districts. We leave in order from 1-12. I hug everyone goodbye and that'll see them when we get the training center. When we exit the elevator Akiliya and Seran meet us at the door. They walk us to the dining room and we meet with Tigris, and Stone, Sestra's stylist, and we dine in the most biggest meal I've ever seen. Even though I'm an Elite, we don't get special treatment from anywhere, it just makes us a little bit more hated in the poorer districts in fact.

Compliments are thrown around the room, and Tigris calls attention to herself and says that the costumes were my idea, and everybody cheers. I throw back my praise saying that the hair, which was a main staple in our popularity, was the stylists idea and they should get even more praise then I. Then Stone says the hair thing was Sestra's idea, and she sits in the corner saying, "Oh stop it you!".

We all have a toast to congradulate all of ourselves, for our acting, and the stylist's styling. I enjoy the food, and for some reason this food tastes better just knowing that Sestra was going to live and go back home to her family.

If neither of us make it, I'd be fine with that. I can't return home, if Sestra died while I was protecting her. It would only give me worse flashbacks. Just being in this arena will give me the worst flashbacks ever, because I know that I'm going to have to kill someone eventually, I just hope it isn't Sestra.

Early in the morning, and I sneak out undetected from the room into the dining hall and I find that Akiliya was already sipping tea, and watching re-runs of the presentation. "Oh, Hello, Echo, where are you going without breakfast?" she asks.

I grab a plate and answer, "Nowhere, especially with this fine cuisine." I load on my plate yet have the decency to grab one napkin with a bread roll hidden inside it, for later. I gorge myself because Seran isn't around.

Akiliya asks me again. I pretend to have to much food in my mouth to answer. When she asks again I answer, "I was going up to the roof to see the sunrise."

"Echo, why do you want to see the sunrise?", she asks.

"Akiliya, you of all people should know why I want to see it.", she looks at me confused, "Since my name was called out in the reaping I've learned to appreciate smaller things, and the sunrise is something small. I've been watching it a lot lately. It reminds me that I might not see beautiful things anymore. It also reminds me of me. It's as bright as my own hope to survive these games, or to at least save Sestra and die doing it.", she looks me in the eyes and says I'm free to go.

Chapter 5

I walk into the elevator and I travel up to the top, and I see a edge where I can sit. I sit down and I notice I'm not alone. I turn to the greenhouse and I see movement from inside, I go in and ask, "Is anybody in here?", no answer, I turn around and I hear a pot fall and shatter. I turn around to see that it was Derma from District 5. Poor thing stares at me like if she was a deer standing in front of a train.

"Hi, Derma.", I say, "Come on and join me. I was about to watch the sunrise. I walk over to the ledge and sit down and I see sunrays shoot up from the horizon. I notice that Derma, without making any noise, already made her way over to my side and looked down really scared. "Derma, It's okay, if you fall you bounce right back, remember how strong the forcefields are.". It seems to calm her down. I pull out the napkin I hid and I take the bread roll from it, and hand it to her.

She takes it and eats to her hearts content, "Thank you, Echo!", she says happily.

"No problem," a comfortable silence takes over and I continue, "Isn't it beautiful, Derma, the sunset. How much it shines. It's hard to believe to another planet our sun is just a distant star?" She nods wispfully. "I continue on looking at this momentues glory and makes me think that I'm never going to see it after next week.", I say and let the sunlight get soaked into my skin.

"Echo, what do you mean that after next week you'll never see it again, don't you plan on winning?", she finally says.

I nod and say, "No, not one bit, I couldn't live in a world where I had to kill my friends, besides I'm gonna live up until Sestra is the winner, and then I can close my eyes, take in my last breath, and just slip away.", I finish and she looks at me sadly. "What's the matter, Derma?".

"I can't live in a world like this either, but I know that I have to get back to my mom, I'm practically all she has. Don't you think it's selfish for someone to sacrifice themselves for someone else. I mean you have family that wants you to get back home."

"That's right, Derma, but my family has everything they need, they won't miss me as much as Sestra's dad is gonna miss her. She's all he has too."

"But it's still wrong, we still want to see you again, we don't want you to die in the arena. We love you, and it's your responsibility to live. I'm planning to survive the three days with Nathine, you and Sestra can join us."

"Derma what are you talking about we're going into a fight to the death where only...", she looks at me and her eyes are filled with honest innocence. She really doesn't know that only one of us is going too survive. She must think this is just another free-for-all, where many people can win as long as they pass the three-day criteria. I find that I should explain to her what's really going on. "Derma, do you know how the Hunger Games work?"

"Yes, they give us three days, and everyone who makes it the end of the last day wins. That's why I made a plan, that if we..."

"Derma, that's a free-for-all, this is the Hunger Games. These two things are different. In the free-for-alls we don't get hurt, but here, we can die."

"No, I know, but my plan is for everyone to drop their weapons and be at a stand-still until the last day is done. That way we can all go home."

"Derma! That's not how it works. There isn't a time limit here, we die when we die!", I yell and her eyes get bigger. "There is only one winner out of 24. They would never allow more than one person to win. If we don't kill each other, then they will. I would rather you all fall at my hands, than to a bunch of evil Capital people who pitted us against each other in the first place."

I look at her and she's scared, and she's about to cry. She is to innocent to be thrown into an arena with all her friends. She didn't even know that only one of us can live. I close my eyes and I continue, "Derma, I'm sorry. I thought you had the right to know."

"No, you're right, Echo. I have to stop being so naive. I knew how this worked, but I was just hoping it was just a game. That as soon as we're in the Arena, Psy's(our Elite trainer) voice came on and told us that we just have to complete the three day free-for-all."

"Just a game...", I think about it. "I know a song named 'Just a Game'. Don't worry Derma, if things go wrong, then I'll make things right, and then you'll have more of a chance of winning then me. Just be thankful for all the days you have with Nathine." I open my eyes and I look to find that Derma is gone. Someone who could be that quite even when she's really close, will be a worthy adversery to me. I go back to the the 7th floor, take a shower, and I get dressed and ready for the training.

When Sestra and I get down to the training floor, the instructor tells us the rules and sends us to training. The problem is that Sestra's trying everything she hasn't been taught and she's making herself look like prey to everyone else. "Sestra, what are you doing? Keep it up and you'll be the first one to go down in the games."

"Sorry, I just wanted to see if I could do all these other things.", she whispers to me.

"Well stop it, show them that you're not completely weak, there are axes over in that station, show them what you've got.", She walks over to the station, with everyone's eyes on her she picks up an two axes. She throws it and it gets the rubber dummie, in the neck nearly severing it off the fake body. Now she has everyone's attention. She moves on to the other stations and I start to pay attention to others.

Crimson and Richest are sword fighting and both of them are really good. Excalibar is hitting moving targets left and right by throwing knives. Persia and Derma are doing the same with arrows. Nathine is piercing fake bodies with spears. Caston and Jareda are learning how to camouflague. They both play around and paint each other, laughing and giggling. I already know their strengths though. Jareda's got her mace, and Caston can use a pair of iron claws to polverise wooden targets into tooth picks.

Darwin and Nessa are sticking together with traps. Depending on the arena, Darwin can turn a normal wire, into an electrical trap. I remember he taught me how when we were in our second free-for-all. Issac is tossing 100 pound weights around like nothing. I look over to see Artimis is using poison darts and Jason is using a barrier shield. A gigantic shield that could be used to crush things and to protect yourself. Then I notice that people are still waiting for me to do something so I look on the weapons wall, for my weapon of chose, a bullwhip. It's exterior was leather, but the inside was flexible steel, strong enough to make marks in boulders. I pick it up and I walk over to a target station. I crack it once and destroy one, crack it again and make a slash mark across a tree they have for climbing, and everyone looks in awe. We all have something special, but nobody has ever seen my full potentiel with a whip.

Days go by and I figure out that Juno, Urwin, and Jenten are really good trappers. Caitlyn doesn't seem to do anything, but I've seen her throw knives before, so I know not to take her for granted. The day to work for our final scores is finally here. We perform in front of the gamemakers, and get scored from one to twelve. The higher the number the more likely you are to succeed, but it also makes you a target in the arena.

Excalibar comes out looking accomplished which worries me. It came for Sestra's turn and she told me she was going to try to impress them with the axes. When she was done she hurried to the elevator without even a glance toward me. I walk in to the main room where all the gamemakers sit and watch. "State your name, age, and continue with whatever your going to do.", the head gamemaker asks.

"Echo Ivy, 16, and I will need targets for whipping.", I say to them. He presses a button and targets pop up from out of nowhere. I pull the whip quickly from the rack. I crack the whip one way break a target and use it to destroy another one. I whip it everywhere and I can hear wood being destroyed. I felt that I was getting a good score, until I was disrupted by the gamemaker's "thank you", and a little bit of applause. I walk out, and I go back to the room and I await my score.

I pass by all the following District tributes, and I wish them good luck. I walk to the elevator, but I'm stopped by District 12's tributes, Juno and Jenten. "How'd you do in there!", Juno asks me.

"It went good. I think."

"Don't worry, you'll probably get a higher score than us.", Jenten laughs.

"Thanks you two, but I should be getting back, bye. Break a leg!", I say as I walk away from them. Once inside I press the button four on accident. I press seven right after so I don't have to make the stop at District 4's floor, but the elevator sends me there anyways. At the door for District 4, stands Jareda and her District 4 mentor, Mags. Jareda waves me in, but I deny. The elevator door doesn't close quick enough so she pulls me in.

"Echo, meet my District mentor, Mags. Mags this is Echo, from District 7."

"Hello.", I say to her, she returns the greeting and leaves. Mags looks like she's been in a lot of traumatic situations. I remember Jareda told me about her though. She was a powerful swimmer, and can make a fish hook out of anything. I 'm not sure which year she won, I think it was the 7th or the 13th annual Hunger Game.

"How'd you do?", Jareda turns to me and says.

"I'm not sure, I'm hoping I did good."

"I know I did great. You wanna know what I did?", she says. We're not supposed to know what the others did, due to the fact that that would be an unfair advantage but I already know wht her skill was. Before I can answer she tells me, "I did sword play!"

"Oh, that's new."

"I know, what did you do?"

"I used the whip like I usually do. Of course I'm going to need the whip in the arena. Hopefully, they give me a strong resiliant one."

"Well, of course, you wouldn't want to disappoint your ex-girlfriend.", she laughs. We talk a bit more, and after I decide to leave. I finally get to my floor, and release the breathe I've been holding in since I got into the elevator on the fourth floor.

Later that night, we all gathered in the Television room, and we anticipated the scores for District 7. It came on starting with Sestra's score. "Sestra Celenova...9", the announcer, Claudius Templesmith, says. I was so relieved because that meant I didn't have to kill her. Then came mine "Echo Ivy...11".

Chapter 6

I could not believe I got an eleven. I usually get an 8 or 7 when our Elite Leaders scores us in our free-for-all training. Except for Trenton from District 8, and Crimson from District 1, I was the only one who got an 11. The smallest score came from Clydessa from District 9, she got a score of 5. Persia, Excalibar, Alex(9), Kessie(10), Nathine, and Caitlyn got 10. The boy tribute from District 1, Richest, got 8. Artimis got 8 while her brother, Jason, got 9. Everyone else got a score of 6-10.

The room was filled with cheers, everyone comemerated Sestra and I for our scores. Now is where it gets a little bit more difficult. We have to find out what our strategy is, and then we have to ace our interviews with Ceaser Flickerman in front of all Panem so we can get sponsers. "We'll tomorrow is going to be really big, in winning the games, so we'll have to take night hours to talk about the strategy." Akiliya gets my attention and answers my question of when we were going to strategize before I even asked it.

"Well, can I go leave my district token in my room first?", Akiliya nods and Sestra is on her way. Her district token isn't like mine, it's something her father made her in his carpentry shop back in District 7. When she returns we continue our meeting. "Okay, so number one thing is to find a resource to sustain you for the rest of the games. We don't know what type of field they are going to give you so you have to be careful with everything. Remember don't step off your plate until the gong rings out."

"Or what?" Sestra interupts Akiliya.

"Or you'll get blown into itty bitty pieces!", she answers quickly. She continues "Water is a main thing, do either of you know how to hunt?", she asks and both our hands go up. "Well, make sure, when you run for the Cornucopia, to grab a knife, your weapon of choice, and a supplies backpack.", she says ending our meeting, and sends us off to bed. "Remember tomorrow, is where we will train you seperately for the interview, so get some sleep and be prepared for tomorrow."

I walk Sestra to her room and hug her goodnight, but it could also possibly be goodbye, because two days from now well be running in arena trying to survive. In my room I do last minute showering and prepping, so the prep team wouldn't be so troubled. I go to sleep and have a dream where Persia and I are allies again in the first free-for-all.

"You think you're going to like being a war leader?", she asks with her arrow positioned to kill a rabbit for our lunch.

"I'm not sure how I feel about it, and you? What do you think?", I ask her.

"I honestly don't love it, my whole life I hated the Capital for sending my sister into the games. She died on the first day in a fight near the cornucopia."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be, it's the Capital's fault, not yours.", she shoots the arrow and gets the rabbit clean through the eyes.

"Do you ever feel like they chose us to be Elites for a reason, Persia?", I asked her.

"I kind of do, I think almost everyone here has lost someone they loved to the games."

"That's possibly true, but I don't get why they didn't chose my brother to come. He lost five of his friends in the games. I lost my two closest friends to the most recent one though."

"Well, I'm glad they didn't chose your brother. The way you describe him he sounds like a real jerk. If they had chosen him, then I would've never met anyone as smart as you, or as ticklish as you!", she says poking my stomach and laughing. That was the day I knew I could always depend on Persia.

Akiliya wakes me up, and tells me to go with Tigris so I could get dressed and then get ettiqute training. I walk into the room and get rushed by my Prep team. They are so weak minded it's laughable. I wonder if it has ever crossed their pea-sized minds that they are just dressing me so I can get killed. I hear them talking about me being Tigris' last tribute to adorn. "You know that, you are the last person to get worked on by Tigris?" Harmonio asks me.

"No, I didn't, why, is she getting fired...or quitting?", I repeat the thought in my head.

"She's getting fired.", Andreas said.

"Why?", I say sadly. Out of everyone I've meet here in the Capital, Tigris seemed like the only logical, kind-hearted person. "Does she go overboard with costumes when she's not supposed to?"

"No, It's because she's getting...old, President Snow said that everyone has to be young and beautiful to represent how beautiful the tributes are, or something like that.", Calpurnia answers.

"How old is she?"

"She's thirty-five!", Andreas exclaims, and Calpurnia gasps. Only in the Capital can you get fired for being thirty-five.

"If we get fired at thirty-five, then I've only got two years left!", Calpurnia says, and decide to complement her.

"Really, you don't look a day over twenty-two!", I say. This makes her blush and Harmonio laughs.

"Yeah she doesn't look a day over twenty-two...thousand!", he laughs and so do I. Once they're done with the prepping I get up off the table and I thank them for everything and I say I hope to see them in the distant future. As I'm about to walk out the door, Harmonio stops me. "Here give this to Tigris,", he hands me a card, "we don't have the heart to give it to her in person...and good luck out there kid!"

"Thank you!", I say as some of them shed a tear. I hug them all to show them I don't hate them(entirely). I walk down the hall into Tigris' room. There she is with her face buried in her hands weeping.

"Tigris, I'm here." I say quietly. I put the card down on a table and we get started. She has a whole thing with my hair again, she start putting things in there. I'm dressed in a brown suit with a bright green shirt and vest. My hair is back to normal, but she said that she concealed some glimmering stuff in there so I have to shake it a little.

I'm about ready to leave, but I remember the card. I take it off the table and hand it to her. She opens it and I could see her spotted eyes go left to right, and she starts to cry again. I give her big hug and tell her that she has done well over the years, and that she has done her job well today because the District 7 tributes are going to win. She calms down and starts "Echo, you are one of the best tributes I have ever had the honor to work with. Good luck out there, Echo, and don't forget to shake your hair!"

I walk out and everyone is in their seats already, we are about to begin the interviews. Caesar Flickerman steps out and the crowd cheers. I've been in front of a crowd this big only once. When all the Elites were to protect the winner of the Hunger Games three years ago, but this time we have to talk. He goes on with a couple of jokes to warm up the crowd. Then he tells us that girls first and then boys, and in order of our districts.

Crimson goes up first, her gold dress shines in the spotlight. She has a whole competion with Caeser about whose hair is softer. Richest goes up and he's so nervous he barely talks, but he does tell everybody what he's going to be trying to get as soon as he's in the arena. A pair of iron claws is his choice. Persia goes up and the silver black dress does wonders for her. Caeser asks, "So, a pretty young girl like you must have a boyfriend, am I right?", the crowd goes balistic at this question.

She answers, "Yes, I do, he is from District 2. His name is Morson, and I'm going to win this to go home and see him!", the crowd awes for a moment, and Persia and I have locked in eyes, I can tell that she's doing this so she can get people on her side. This "Morson" probably doesn't even exist. I've known her long enough to expect this from her. Excalibar is next and he tells the story of his future fiancee, Carmenella. He gets a little bit more people on his side. District 3 interviews blow past, and then Caeser announces District 4, and this one is a suprise to me.

"Okay, now moving on to District 4, but can I have them both come up here!", Caeser says and Jareda and Caston both walk up hand in hand. "You two are an item, am I right!", he asks and they nod. "How long have you two been together?"

"11 months!", answers Caston.

"Actually, we've been together for 1 month, but we've had feelings for each other long before!", Jareda points out.

"That's adorable! Caston here includes the months you weren't even together!", Caeser cheers. The crowd is hooked. Now it's my job to get these people on to my side right after them. "Well, going into a game where only one can come out alive what is your strategy?"

"We aren't entirely sure, I know that I want her to win.", Caston says.

"And I want him to win!", Jareda says ready to cry.

"I'm gonna get the iron claws to protect Jareda from any attacker."

"And I'm going to get my mace and bury it in anyone who tries to touch him.", she says making it sound like a warning. She was never really good at threats. I laugh a little louder than I thought I would've and they turn to look at me. The rest of the tributes turn and also smile a bit.

"Well, I wish you both the best of luck...", Caesar says. "Ladies and Gentlemen the tributes of District 4, Caston Segwada and Jareda Asleen!" the crowd cheers.

Everyone goes by quick, then it's Sestra's turn. "Sestra Celenova, come on up!" Caesar yells out with joy. "Sestra, how are you doing?"

"I'm fine and you?", she answers sweetly. The green short dress she's wearing is shining in the limelight she's in right now.

"Good, good, so you volunteered when they called out your friend's name in the reaping?"

"Yes I did, I came on my own because I owe Echo one, so while I'm here I'm going to protect him.", she says with a lot of confidence in her voice. They go on a small banter and he finally comes to the final question.

"And what's your strategy going into the games?"

"I plan on getting my hands on axes, getting Echo out of the bloody Cornucopia fight, and letting the other Tributes eliminate each other in order to protect Echo."

"Well your times up, so I wish you the best of luck, and I hope you succeed, Ladies and Gentlemen, Sestra Celenova!", crowd cheers and then pause and I hear my name. "Echo Ivy, you're next!"

Chapter 7

I put on my best smile and climb up the steps. "Hello, Nature!", he says mocking me, for the costume on the first day.

"Hello Annoncer man!", I joke around, and I get the crowd to laugh. I don't really understand why, but I take it as a win.

"Oh, well that was an astonishing splash you made during the presentation last week!", they show me up on the monitor, and I have to smile.

"Yes, but I couldn't have done it without my stylist, Tigris!", She stands up in the crowd, and takes a bow while a couple of people clap. I'm not kidding at least one couple clapped. I shake my hair because I remember that's what Tigris told me to do.

"Whoa! What was that?", Caesar cheered and clapped.

"What was what?", I say like I didn't know.

"Your hair just glimmered! Shake your hair again!", he cheered me on.

_Hookline and sinker_, I thought, "Okay!", I shook my hair and the crowd went crazy with excitment, and I could hear my name being hollered out. I stood up and made sure everyone in the stands surrounding us got some, including the tributes. Once I look down I can see that different colored petals are falling out of my hair. I could hear people whistling, and shouting, and just have a heart attack of fun. I would do more but I felt dizzy.

"Wow, was that Tigris' idea?"

"Yes it was!"

"Wow, Tigris, take a a bow!", she does, and this time everyone cheers, and I see that she wipes a tear off her face. "Now on to more important matters!", he calms down the audience, "What is your strategy?"

"I can honestly say it's to stay alive, until the final two, where I will sacrifice myself to send that girl home!" I say pointing at Sestra.

"Ah, I see the both of you are allies from the beginning."

"Yes, we are, she's like my little sister, and she has so much riding up on this game."

"Like?"

"Well, personal things."

"I understand, what weapon are you going to use!"

"This might seem a little strange, but I am diving for a whip." I was correct, it did sound odd. The audience looks at each other, confused, so I decided to turn it into a joke. "Yeah, my ex-girlfriend says that I was really good when it came to the whip!" the crowd loses it and tears are streaming from every eye.

"Oh, my, well you are delightful! I hope you succeed in all your plans and may the odds be ever in your favor, now give the crowd what they want! Ladies and Gentlemen, Echo Ivy!", while he finishes his last line, I shake my hair vigorously, to release the petals all over. I step down and find that some people who worked to get people on their side have just lost them to me, hopefully no one shows me up...no one does.

The ceremony is soon over, and we are allowed to go back to our rooms, to get ready for tomorrow. I say good-bye for the last time to some people and we get to our room.

"Are you ready for tomorrow?", Sestra asks me.

"I am prepared, and you?", I question her.

"I feel ready to kill anyone who tries to hurt you, Echo."

"Sestra, I don't want you to try and protect me, these people are Elites like me, we're meant to be able to kill anyone."

"You've showed me enough and I already know what some of their weaknesses are, for example, Crimson can barely toss a spear because of her back problems."

"Sestra, we Elites are world renouned actors, we are trained for everything even tricking our opponents."

"I know you don't want me to get hurt or killed, but I owe you for when were younger. Remember when that gigantic tree almost killed me.", hearing her say these words take me back to that day.

I had just came back from the Elite choosing, and the training was done. Clair and I had came back, and I went straight to helping my dad with working on some trees. My dad's friend was helping him and he had his daughter, Sestra, there with him. She was only eleven, she wasn't working she was only messing around, and she had decided to take a rest where we cut down the trees. I heard a tree crack and I saw that the stupid idiot was still under the tree. I tossed everything aside and ran to her. She had just noticed the tree and was frozen with fear, when I pulled her off the ground and tossed myself over her and we fell a foot away from where the tree landed.

Ever since that day she has been my shadow. I taught her some things I knew. She learned how to survive, and now she wants to repay me the favor. "There is one, big difference between then and now!" I shout at her, "Back then I lived when I saved you, and in order for you to save my life I have to win and you have to lose. Losing means death!" I yell out at her. Before she could respond Akiliya and Seran came in to say their good-byes.

"I want you two to know that it has been an honor to escort you both." Seran said with a sad tone, but she's still part of the Capital, so she insults us right after, "Don't die, if you two die, then I'm demoted to another District like 12, eeww!"

"We love you too, Seran." Sestra says. Seran nods and leaves us with a smile. Akiliya says good-bye to us as well.

"You two might do your last minute prepping tonight. Remember that you two have to conceal yourselves. Pack, hunting gear, weapon, and water. I'll be watching and getting you things from your sponsers. Good luck you two!", Akiliya gives Sestra and I a hug, and before she leaves salutes me.

"Sestra will see you right after the games are done." I say because she's the one who will win. Sestra ignores me, and hugs her back and leaves to her room.

I walk off to my room, and there I take off the glimmering hair extensions. I take a shower, and pull out a tray of almonds from my draw and eat to sleep. I have another nightmare, where I suffocate Sestra and win. It's followed by the dream of when I met Excalibar. We were in the middle of our third free-for all battle. He just popped out of the water where I was fishing. The Arena was lake surrounded by forestry.

"Hey, you're not Crimson!", he acted surprise.

"Yeah, I've noticed!", I was still surprised and scared he'd knock me out.

"You're funny! I haven't seen you around the grape vine, what's your name again?"

"I'm Echo, and you're Excalibar!", I just realized who he was.

"I'm also really wet, come on in and join me!", he grabs my hand and pulls me in, and he starts to laugh.

"Ah, I don't...know...how to swim!", I shouted and kicked around. I remember hitting the bottom of the shallow water and seeing him coming down to save me. He could of knocked me out, but instead he saved me from drowning. We later formed an alliance and I ended up winning.

The next morning I wake up and see that the outfit that I'm going to wear. It was just normal clothes with special properties. The shirt was supposed to change tempurature according to the weather. The sweater was to keep in heat, well more than a usual one would. I put it down and I leave to a room where a hovercraft awaits all the tributes. I grab on to the ladder to be lifted up, but a shock freezes me and I can't move. A Peacekeeper puts a needle into me, and I ask him what it's for. He tells me that it's my tracker. I'm lifted in and I'm strapped in with everyone inside. I stay quite, because I know that if I talk it'll be harder to kill these people, my friends.

We arrive to a base and we are sent to our launch room, where we await to be sent into the arena. I go inside the room and I see that Tigris is there. She holds out her hands for a hug and I oblige her.

"Hey, you forgot something in the prep room." She holds out my mockingjay necklace.

"Thank you, Tigris!" I was relieved that she had found it for me. She puts it around my neck, and then a loud booming voice sounds, "60...59...", the countdown has just started.

"You better get on the platform quick!" Tigris says, and I follow her directions and when I get on it a glass tube surrounds me. "Good luck, Kid! Make me proud!", she says before I'm launched off. I rise to the top and I see all the other tributes.

Our platforms is in the middle of a meadow. I can see that the trees and mountains surrounds us. I see the golden cornucopia down in the middle. The meadow decents inword toward it. I look around I see that Sestra is a couple people away from me. I turn to look for Persia, and then I hear an explosion.

Chapter 8

I turn around and I see that Sestra's wooden ball, her district token, has landed a couple feet away from my platform. I look at Sestra to see if she threw it. She was gone. Then I realize that the explosion came from her platform. I hear the people next to her shriek out. I could see that something was splattered all over the floor. "NO!" I yell out. I fall to my knees on the platform. I see that the wooden ball was scorched.

"10...9...8...", the booming voice announces. I hear Persia shouting out for me to get up. I didn't know what to do. I get up and my face is filled with tears. Sestra was dead. "Let the 55th annual Hunger Games begin!" and a large ring is announced, and I start to run the decent into the Cornicopia. I make it into the inside of it where I grab a bag of axes, whip, and a pack. When I turn around I see Richest coming at me with the iron claws he wanted. I grab an axe instantly and throw it, I see him stop straightaway and he falls to the ground with in axe in his head. I run, pull the axe out of him, and run up the incline.

Halfway up I see that Clydessa is in front of me with an arrow drawn and pointed at my skull. I stop and I see a knife fly pass my head and get her in the eye. She fires it, and I drop to the ground to avoid it. The arrow bulleted passed me and gets Caitlyn, who threw the knife at her in the first place, in the eye. The phrase "an eye for an eye" has never rung so true.

I'm on the floor when Derma darted and tripped over me. We lock eyes and she hurries to get up and darts into the forest with a pack. I get up and run and a barrage of knives flies towards me, all thrown by Juno from District 12. She chases me into the forest where I hide in a bush. She stops because she knows it's better to go back to the clearing rather to take me on, the boy who scored an eleven, the boy from District 7 where they specialize in forests.

I see her turn around only to get a sword lodged in her and go through her completely. I see that it was Darwin from District 3. Behind him comes Issac, from District 5, and he breaks Darwin's neck with his enourmous hands. He kneels down near Juno's body and he picks up her head. She isn't dead, yet. She speaks, "Issac, I love you!" she coughs, with blood filling her mouth.

"I love you too, Juno!" he crys out, he could barely be heard from all the tears. I couldn't bear to see my friend like this. Juno's head turns lifelessly and her eyes lock on to where I am. There is no more life in them. Issac puts her head down, and closes her eyes. I couldn't bear it. I sneak out and walked behind him quietly, and I throw an axe. I close my eyes and I hear a loud thump. I turn around and I see that Lilia from District 8, saw the whole thing. I expect an arrow or a spear from her, but she just nods at me and she dashes into the forest.

I get the axe from Issac's head, and I speed off into the forest. I find a clearing, and a tree with a hole in the base big enough for me to slip into. I crawl in and I sit with my knees to my chest. I take in all of what just happened. I killed two of my friends, and led four others into their doom.

My sobs seem loud to me, but no one finds me so I'm fine. "Sestra...how...why?", I crying under my breath. She's dead. How could this happen, we warned her about the landmines. I'm crying more, and if I'm crying this much for Sestra, I can only imagine losing Persia. That would kill me.

Hours go by, and I see that Crimson comes into the clearing. She takes a wire out of her pack, and she climbs the tree in no time. She comes back down and I realize she just set a trap. She put a bag of apples in the middle. I see her sneak over to the side and kneel down.

I crawl out the hole, quickly and undetected. I get up and bullet for the bag and she runs straight into the clearing. I grab the bag of apples and run further into the forest. I find a dirt path, and start to run it, and she runs right behind me. I've known Crimson for a long time, and I know that she can run for miles, and she won't stop until she catches her taget, which right now, is me. I could tell she was mad because the trap didn't work on me, and I took her 5 apples. I hear a crack, a familiar one, so I slow down enough to see a tree fall in front of me. My Elite training kicked in, and I jump over it, landing with enough momentum to keep running. I've seen Crimson train, and she's one person who couldn't do a perfect jumps like Artimis, from District 11, Lilia, from District 8, and I could. She comes to a quick hault, and falls over the fallen log.

After an hour of running I slow down and decide that no one else is chasing me. I walk straight into a patch of shorter trees that are familiar to me. I also notice a certain type of moss that only grows near water. I hear 10 cannons fire. Each cannon represents each tribute that has died. It has started to get a little less brighter so I campout in a higher tree. I find a fork in the high branches and set up. I see a little opening in the leaves where I have perfect view of the sunset.

I open my pack and pull out the sleeping bag. I also find a bag of jerky, dried fruits and berries, a pair of sunglasses, bandages, rubbing alcohol, water, and matches. I get ready to go to sleep so I close my eyes. I take in everything again. All those dead faces, Crimson, my friend, angry at me and trying to kill me now. I see the Capital seal appear in the sky and I see the faces of the deceased once again. It starts in order.

_**District 1: Richest Wave**_

_**District 3: Darwin Bolt**_

_**District 3: Nessa Wire**_

_**District 5: Issac Stroid**_

_**District 6: Caitlyn Calliton**_

_**District 7: Sestra Celenova**_

_**District 9: Clydessa Dardez**_

_**District 9: Alex Zecko**_

_**District 12: Jenten Mao**_

_**District 12: Juno Badge**_

I wake up the next morning, and I crawl back down I go looking for a river, but instead I find a tiny stream. I go up the current and find a big lake. I look around to see if anyone was around. I see that across from me, my friend Kessie Firstina, from District 10 is drinking water near the lakes edge. I would call her over but I don't know if she's dangerous, or if someone is around to kill me as soon as I call her.

From behind her I see bushes rustling. I see that she notices, and she starts to run. I see four people run out of the bushes and chase her down. I couldn't help it, I have to help Kessie, she was my friend, and they were about to kill her. I see that her assailants are Caston and Jareda, Nathine, and Derma. They all have daggers in their hands and they playing with Kessie. They surround her and each take a turn cutting her. I stop running because of they see me they'll do the same. I see that Kessie tries to make another escape. This time Derma, being as quick as she is, jumps on her and takes Nathine's spear and impales her. "Stop it, NO!", I yell out on accident. Kessie's cannon fires.

Chapter 9

I see that they've spotted me, I turn to run, and I can hear them shouting out "Get him, quick!". I keep running into the forest, and soon enough they stop, and I've lost them. I find a nice big tree and I climb it. At the top, I find a fork of branches, and I sit down.

I take a sip of the water I have and I eat an apple. It starts to get dark. I doze off a little, and when I wake up I see someone in front of me. I take an axe and my hand gets stopped by someone else. _This is it, I lost the games, I'm never going to fulfill Sestra's wish of me winning._ The person behind me puts the sunglasses on me and covers my mouth. The sunglasses let me see better in the dark. I see that the person in front of me is Artimis, and the person covering my mouth is Jason.

"Quiet." Artimis whispers and points down. I see that it's Caston and his alliance are walking under us. They are talking about Kessie. "Oh please don't kill me!" Nathine mocks Kessie's begging.

"Please, I could help you find Echo quicker! Just don't kill me!" Derma follows, "She was so pathetic!" she laughs right after. I feel the immense pressure of throwing an axe in her head, but Jason sensed this and he gripped my hand harder.

They soon pass and Jason releases me. "Artimis, Jason, what are you guys doing?" I whisper.

"Well we were walking when we saw their torch so we climbed up the tree and found you here." Artimis says.

"You were about to kill Artimis, so I had to stop you, and sorry about covering your mouth, I just didn't want you to blow our cover." Jason says.

"Oh that's understandable, but I thought you guys were going to kill me, that's why I raised the axe." I explain.

"It's okay we get it." Artimis says. "Sorry about Sestra."

"Yeah, if my sister was stupid enough to blow herself up I would go crazy to." Jason laughs, strangely, I don't find this funny.

"Jason!" Artimis hushes him, "I told you already she didn't blow herself up!"

"What do you mean she didn't blow herself up?" I said.

"I saw the whole thing, Jareda told her to drop the ball, because it would've held her back from running, so she did and the rest is history." she reveals to me that Sestra's death wasn't an accident. All my feelings for Jareda were gone as soon as she finished telling me this. I wanted to get her in the head with an axe.

"I'm going to chop her head off."

"Whoa, take a chill pill, it's to late we gotta get some sleep." Jason grabs my shoulder. The anthem plays and the Capital seal appears in the sky. One face appears tonight.

_**District 10: Kessie Firstina**_

The anthem plays out and the seal disappears. Jason and Artimis take a seperate fork then me and they fall asleep. I go to sleep right after them and I have a dream about Kessie. When it came to the training sessions in the Capital, we were always a team. She was the first person to even talk to me when we first arrived at the Capital. She was my first friend here. She might've planned to sell me out but I know she was scared, and she had to do anything to live. They way it sounds, they were looking for me.

I wake up early and I pack up and slowly crawl down the tree. I find Artimis on a branch near mine, and Jason is on another branch in another tree. I crawl up to Artimis and I leave an axe. I start to walk towards the big mountains that are really far away. I take a path that is covered in trees, there is no way someone can find me through here. Although I could be wrong. I constantly hear twigs snapping, but I think that It could just be the gamemakers trying to scare me. I walk for hours and I can see that some of the trees start to thin down. Trees start to turn into saplings and it soon turns into plain dirt on the floor. I hear something whizzing around in the air, and I can feel fear building up in me.

I start to slow down and I come to a stop so I can rest. I scan the area I'm in but I highly doubt that anyone will find me here, even though it's a clear wide plain. I drink some of the water I've collected. I eat another apple and ly down, I close my eyes for a second, and I hear something bullet through the air, and land right next to me. I open my eyes sit up and I examine a sharp disc that is sticking out of the ground. The bulleting noise is back and I jump out of the way. Another disc lands right under me. I look up and see many more flying towards me. I grab my things and start to run back towards the forest. A disc hits the floor in front of me, and breaks through a rock. I come to a screeching halt and run in another direction. I'm running and I can see the tree line coming up. Something cuts my side, and I see that a disc lands in front of me covered in blood. My blood. I start to push myself further and I am running in a zig-zagging lines.

Another one cuts my ear, and soon one lands straight in my calf. I stop and it starts to burn as if it were on fire. I look at it and it's turning red hot. I fall on the floor yeling in pain. I see another one flying towards my head, I roll over and it lands near my head. This disc is different, once it hit the floor, it doesn't stop spinning. It was digging into the ground. The disc finally starts to burn so much I grab and yank it out as quick as I can. I yell and I get up and run into the forest which is only a couple feet away. When I get to the first tree a disc cuts right through a tree, and it falls almost hitting me on its way down. My leg still burns but I jump over the tree and run further into the forest. I soon stop hearing the discs after they've cut down about ten trees.

I'm exhausted and just let myself fall straight onto the floor. I can feel my calf still burning, and the powerful pain is pulsing in my ears. I reach in my pack and I grab the anti-bacterial cream and some bandages. I bite down on my whip and I rub on the cream. It burns and I want to scream, but I bite down on the whip harder, knowing that I might be within earshot of one of the other tribute. I wrap my leg in the bandages, and make sure it stops bleeding.

Chapter 10

The burning pain turns into a cooling sensation. The pounding pain in my ears starts to go away, an I allow myself to go to sleep on the floor, hopefully no one passes by. I'm dead wrong. I hear speaking coming from the other side of some shrubs. I get up and try to run but my leg is still weak. I lean on a tree and start to climb as fast as I can. "Come on I heard it from over hear!", I hear a familiar voice. It's Nathine, and if he's here then the rest of their group shouldn't be to far away. I hurry up the tree, and try to conceal myself in one of the branches.

"What did you hear exactly!", Jareda asks him.

"It was a really loud thump, I mean huge, sort of like an earthquake!", he shouts and pushes his way through the bushes. "Whoa!", he exclaims as he sees the fallen trees.

"What in the world!", Derma shouts out kind of laughing. Their faces are filled with shock. "What did the gamemakers do this for!".

"Probably for that!", Caston yells out pointing at the tree I'm in. "Come on out I already saw you, Echo!". _How did he see me?_

"Hi, you guys!", I sit up on the branch. "What are you guys doing over here?", I shout down from the branch.

"Nothing just trying to get rid of as many competetors as we can!", Nathine says. "I thought you'd be a little bit more difficult to find but you've proven me wrong once again!".

"When was the first time Nathine!", I ask with a smile.

"That day in the third free-for-all! When you trapped us all in the electrified lake, by setting the trees around us on fire! Then I thought you would get a score lower than ours, but no, you out did yourself and got an 11! That makes me really proud to know you!", he says grabbing Derma's bow and arrows. I prepare my axes for a fling when a parachute comes sailing into the tree with me. They all notice, and Nathine is ready to shoot, and I jump to the branch above me where it landed. The arrow flies and hits the trunk. I look down and see that Jareda is jumping on to the tree and starting to climb. I open the package and see that it's a cross bow. I tie it to my wrist, and load it with one of it's many arrows. I point it down and the group sees it, but Jareda is still to busy climbing to see it. The yell out,"Jareda , come back down! Quick!", I look for her in the branches below me and I start to aim. I finally have a lock on her, and then an arrow scratches my cheeck. I look down and I see Derma is getiing ready to launch another one. I jump to the next tree and she misses.

I keep skipping into different trees, and I try to escape, but they follow me. I land on a flimsy branch and I fall down to the forest floor. I tumble and I start ot run again. More arrows are flying and I turn around to fire one of my own, and it gets Nathine in the shoulder. This stops Derma from chasing but Jareda and Caston continue on. I shoot back and get Caston in the shin, but it doesn't stop him. I run and I hear an awful high pitched tweeting from above me. There was a nest of bright colored birds, I'm guessing these were Capital Muttations. They were candy pink, with beaks that looked really sharp. I run ahead of it and when I see that Caston and Jareda were almost underneath the nest of the swarming candy birds I shoot an arrow into it and it falls to the ground in front of them. The birds swarm the two of them, and they start to get stabbed by the birds, I only watch for a minute and leave before the birds notice me.

I run away and come to a stop when I hear the Capital seal appears and the anthem plays, but there is no one dead tonight. I'm tired of running, and before I climb the tree to go to sleep, I clean the wound that the arrow made on my face. The next morning, I wake up and a sudden thought hits me. I whisper to myself, "The ball!". Sestra's ball is all I have left of her, I have to go back and get it. The last time I saw it was when I was running away from Juno.

I need to go back and find the ball, not only do I want it, but I need it so I don't ever forget what I'm fighting for. I start to crawl down the tree, but I tumble down and land on the crossbow, now it's broken, but I ignore it and start to walk opposite of the mountains I was following the other day. After hours of walking I stop because I hear noises. I feel like the discs are going to start flying but I jump down when I hear a lone mockingjay sing. I start to walk again and I finally reach a forest clearing. I hear a noise undeniably made by a person behind me. I crack my whip and I grab something. "Echo. It's me, Jareda, don't kill me please!", she says. I examine her for a minute and see that she is covered in puncture wounds. Not too bad, but still scars are scars.

"Jareda! Give me a reason why I shouldn't kill you?" I shout.

"Because I'm your friend?"

"You told Sestra to drop the ball and she killed herself!", I say remembering what Artimis told me two days ago.

"What? Who told you that!"

"Artimis told me everything!" I shout out.

"Artimis! That liar, she's using you, she told me Excalibar told her a secret about you, and that she was going to use it aganist you!" Excaliber? That bastard. I take spme time and think about it. Would Excalibar betray my trust so he could win these games? What am I saying? Of course he would, anyone would. She must be telling the truth, how else would she know about it.

It gives me some time to form the words in my mouth, "Okay, I believe you!" I say but I really don't. "Jareda, what are you doing sneaking up on me like that? You know I'm really paranoid enough to kill you!" I whisper to her.

"I'm sorry, I can barely think straight.", she said looking down as sad as I've ever seen her.

"What happened to you?", I noticed there's an iron claw mark going across her chest that looked fresh, only one person can use an iron claw, besides Richest, who I had happened to kill. "Where is Caston!", I ask knowing that he just attacked his own girlfriend.

"He abandoned me, and he attacked me as soon as we came up in a forest clearing. I was barely able to get away I'm just lucky Lilia came and helped me.", she said as a cannon fired. "Lilia.", she whispers to herself and cryed a little.

"When did you leave her and where?", I asked her quietly, so if Caston was near he wouldn't hear us.

"About a minute or two ago, and in that direction.", she says and more cracking coming from the direction she pointed. I pull her near a tree that could provide us cover.

"Jareda, where are you?", Caston yells out.

"Did you see which way she went?", one voice asks. I look up and take a peek to who it is. It's Urwin from District 10.

"She went this way!"

"Dude, What happened!", Urwin asked him, while he kneeled down to exam the ground.

"I don't know why she did it. She came up on me on slashed me with a dagger!", Caston answers and I see the monster lift up his hand with the iron claw on it. Jareda is at my level watching too, I here a grunt and I push her head behind the tree, so she wouldn't see. I here a loud thump, and I look back to see that Urwin is on the ground with his back split open. Caston is running out of the clearing. Excalibar comes out of nowhere and chases after him. I run out from behind the tree to take care of Urwin. I push him over so he can see me.

"Echo, Hey kiddo...", Urwin says coughing.

"Urwin, don't waste your breath, you need to rest!", I say. I hear rustling from the bush. I position my axe ready to attack.

"Whoa! Echo slow down it's just me Excalibar!", he bursts out. "Urwin, are you okay!", he rushes over to Urwin's side and grabs his hand.

"Yeah, Excalibar, I'll be fine, I just need some rest, and some bandages.", Urwin says.

"I have some bandages in my pack!", I say.

"Don't waste them, we have more at the camp!", Excalibar jumps in. _Wait a minute did he just say camp_, I thought to myself. We carried Urwin to there camp, and there Persia and Crimson carried him to his sleeping bag and treated him. After an hour they told us he wouldn't make it. Excalibar goes to talk to him first.

"Crimson, Persia, what's all this?", I ask.

"Nothing that concerns you, Echo and especially not you Jareda!", Crimson pushes me, and stares daggers at Jareda.

"What's your problem?" Jareda says coming to my aid, and Persia holds Crimson back.

"My problem is with him, he took the apples I set as a trap to get us food, and to make things worse he almost killed me with his tree trick!", she yells at me. "If anyone is going to kill him, it's going to be me."

"Crimson, I'm sorry, but I haven't even eaten the apples, here they are!", I toss them to her.

"The apples aren't important it's what you tried to do to me!", she comes in close and starts to yell.

"Crimson, I didn't do anything to that tree. Unless it was someone else, it was just the gamemakers who are trying to spice up these games.", a cannon rings out, we all turn to look at Excalibar who looks at us grimly. Urwin was dead

Chapter 11

That night Excalibar and I stayed up to keep watch. It was quiet as the crickets sing.

"This reminds me of the day we meet, do you remember that day, Excalibar?", I ask to keep the silence from consuming us completely.

"Yeah, I remember. I remember even before we met. Urwin got in a training match with you. You literally whipped him. I remember he told me that he wanted you to be part of our alliance as soon as we met up here.", Excalibar tells me still stricken by his best friend's death. He tells me that he was glad that he was the last person his best friend got to see before he passed.

"Hey, Excalibar, did you tell Artimis about my thing over killing my friends?", I ask.

"No I didn't who told you that? I would never, Echo.", he says.

"Jareda said that Artimis told her that you told her."

"That lying! I didn't. I swear."

"But how else would she..."

The anthem plays and the Capital seal appears in the sky, which distracts us from the conversation. It shows Lilia and Urwin in the sky.

_**District 8: Lilia Harvord**_

_**District 10: Urwin Carnivous**_

Excalibar gets up and presses the three middle fingers of his left hand against his lips and points them towards the sky. I know that this is a tradition in District 12, Juno told me so. I get up and join him. He looks down at me and I could see that he's crying.

Two days pass by and no one has died besides Urwin and Lilia. I've stayed in the camp with Excalibar, Persia, Crimson, and Jareda. Things in the games get easier, because we all support each other with our abilities. I got Crimson to forgive me even though I didn't really try to kill her. We have been able to sustain ourselves and we are still plotting to find other people so we could finish these games faster.

"Help me, please...", a voice says from the bushes near the river we camp by. Since it's night time, only Persia and I are awake keeping watch. We slowly creep over, ready to attack just in case the helpless voice is just a trick. It wasn't. It's Artimis from District 11, without her brother.

"Artimis, what happened to you?", Persia asks as she walks over to help her up. There are arrows all over Artimis' back.

"Where's Jason?", I ask her.

"He stayed with Nathine, Derma, and Caston!", she says crying, relieved that we had found her.

"Do you mean he actually joined up with them?", I ask.

"Yes, I didn't want to be part of it, so I went out to find you, Echo, and halfway in my search Derma attacked me.", she staggered to say, as we lay her down on her stomach to treat the wounds on her back. I take the anti-bacterial cream I still have left and use it on her, and some of the bandage wraps. She seems better in a matter of minutes, and she goes straight to sleep.

Persia and I keep watch, and I stay calm by listening to the songs the crickets whistle out. Then the eerie song stops. It goes quite, deadly quite. I wake up Persia who had dozed off, and we wake up everyone else. Everyone is surprised to see that Artimis was here. She stood up by herself and explained it all. She seemed a lot better than when we found her. A cannon fires, we could only guess who that was, my guess was that it was Jason. We could only wait for tonight to come and show us who died.

I remember why I woke everyone up, the quite. I told them but they said I was just being paranoid. They packed stuff into their bags anyways and they went back to sleep. I stayed up, still scared by the quite of the dawn. "Help me please...", I hear a voice come from the river. "Help me please...", I hear it again, I check it out knowing this wasn't a person. It was a Noise Cracker. A Noise Cracker was a mutation made by the Capital, in times of the rebellion, which led to the existence of these games I'm in right know. A Noise Cracker is half piranha, it has the teeth and the same features as one, and half frog, it has legs that let it jump high and a croak that can copy any noise it wants. When it's in danger it lets out a screech to warn others and when they are together, they attack. They secrete toxins that cause a person to go crazy. They can survive out of water which makes them more dangerous than they already are.

This Noise Cracker wasn't alone. I could see lights reflect off the water, but it's not the water its being reflected off of. It's the eyes of more Noise Crackers. The first one notices me and releases a glass shattering screech. They all start to swim to the river banks. I run to wake everyone and I tell them about the Noise Crackers that are coming. They all get their weapons and start to run. By now the frogs are on land getting closer to us. We are packed and start to run. They start chasing us at full speed. We are all running away from the water. Then I hear Persia shout "Crimson!". I look back and see that Crimson is swatting at the Noise Crackers as they swarm her on the ground. "Get off me, Help! Help!", I had never heard Crimson scream like this. "Get them off!". A silver parachute lands near me. I open it quickly and see there's a whislte. I run back to Crimson and blow on it. The Noise Crackers seem to be startled at every blow and they begin to retreat back to the river we ran away from.

Everyone comes back, and Crimson is on the floor, convulsing, and foaming at the mouth. She's twitching and she's humming out words. She's been bitten to many times to save. We all watch, which is all we can do. She gives one last strong twitch, and her head falls to the side, lifeless. Persia closes Crimson's eyes, and we walk back to the camp to see if we can scavenge anything. Crimson's cannon is shot, and we know she's in a better place now. I see the hovercraft fly by us and it takes her body.

I stop and whisper, "Bye, Crimson. I'll miss you.", I do the same thing Excalibar did for Lilia and Urwin. I turn back and continue along with them. We get back to the camp and find that not a lot is harmed just the food, and thanks to me, we still have some packed up in our packs. We decide to rest for a while somewhere else. We find a low patch of trees, like the ones I had found a day or two ago. I show them all the trick I used to sleep in the tree, and we all find seperate trees, and we go to sleep. I wake up in the afternoon, and I find that everyone, except for Jareda, is huddled down beneath the trees. I join them and ask ,"Where's Jareda?"

"That little traitor, took her pack filled with food and a mace, and ditched us." Excalibar spoke angrily. "Apparently she's been on Caston's side the whole time."

"What about the scar that Caston left across her chest?", I ask.

"I saw the whole thing, they planned it! I told you not to trust her!", Artimis says. "My brain got joggled up, and when I fell out of a tree, but it came back to me. That's why the sent Derma to try and kill me as soon as I tried to quit their alliance."

"No wonder I was suspicious of Jareda, she always was the worst when they tried to teach us how to act.", I state knowing that Jareda was up to something from the beginning. "Now what do we do?"

"We are going to find them and kill them! Then it's down to us four." Persia says, and everyone avoids eye contact with each other.

"We can't hurt Jason though, he's my brother, and they of forced him to join. They told me they'd spare me if he joined up with them...", she thinks for a second or two and continues, "If we are going to go after them, I think we should split up, groups of two.", Artimis says.

"That's an idea, we can cover more ground and get them faster.", Excalibar points out.

"I'll go with Persia and you guys can go together. Here's your weapon, Artimis." I say and hand her all my axes, instead of the just one, like I gave her when I seperated from her and Jason. I know that I'm gonna regret giving her the axes later on, but as long as she knows I trust her is good enough for me to continue these games guilt free.

Persia grabs two sheaths of arrows, her pack, and her bow. I grab my whip, Crimson's sword, and my pack. Excalibar gets the spears and pack filled with what we divided for each other, and Artimis does the same with her axes. We say our good-byes and continue on.

Persia and I find ourselves climbing up a mountain later on that night. "I don't think I can continue on for today. We have to find a place to sleep.", she says exhausted.

"Okay, you stay here I'll look for a tree where we could stay.", I look around.

"Or we could stay in that cave over there.", she laughs out.

"Okay then, get up I'll carry you there.", I laugh along with her. We get to the mouth of the small cave entrance. The doorway is small but the inside is big enough for the both of us. I set up with a flashlight as my only resource of light. I help Persia put her things down for her to go to sleep and I would keep watch. I crawl outside while she sleeps, and the sky brightens up with the Capital seal. The faces of the deceased:

_**District 1: Crimson War**_

_**District 11: Jason Zing**_

The anthem plays and the it goes off. After seeing that Jason was dead, I feel bad for Artimis. She must be crying herself to sleep right now. Poor thing, I hope she gets to go home to see her family. I don't care if I win anymore, this is horrible, I was supposed to save Sestra. _She dropped the ball on any chances of her survival, literally, _I thought to myself. I see a silver parachute coming towards me. I open the can and find that it's hot soup and a note from Akiliya. A second one comes and floats into the cave, I'm guessing that it was for Persia.

I read the note which said, "Dear Echo, Sorry about your loses, I tried to get the whistle to you quicker but no one would pay quick enough. Either way here's some soup to keep you going for the next day or two, ration it safely, so it doesn't go to waste in one day. Love, Akiliya", the note made me cry. I wasn't hungry, but it reminded me of what I'm fighting for again. I'm fighting for my friends that died, and I'm fighting to go home to District 7. Everything seemed to be clear, so I crawled back into the cave and saw that Persia was sweating a lot, and she seemed to be breathing heavily. She has a fever! She must have been bitten by a Noise Cracker when she was trying to help Crimson, and got at least a little bit of the poison in her system.

Now I know what her gift was, medicine. I woke her up as quickly as possible, "Persia, Persia, wake up, take this quick!", I shout at her until she opens her mouth and I pour it in. Her skin, which was red because she was hot, calmed down to pink, and then back to normal. She was all better.

"Thank you, Echo, if you hadn't woke me up, I would've probably died in my sleep of that fever.", she says and I hug her because I couldn't think about losing her already. She stays up while I go to sleep.

"Oh, Persia there is soup in that canister, feel free to eat some." I say before I lay down and sleep for hours. I wake up to find that Persia is sleeping as well. She looks like she's been sleeping for as long as I have. She looks so peaceful. I wake her up with the least alarming voice I have, then I hear a cannon fire from outside. This wakes Persia up instantly.

We walk out of the cave and I could see down the mountain and I see Artimis being chased by something. I immediately know who the cannon belonged to. Excalibar.

Chapter 12

I see Artimis running screaming, and Persia and I jump into action leaving everything, knowing we'll come back for it. We run down to the side and Artimis falls and crawls backwards away from what is chasing her. We jump in front of her and I see that it's another Capital Mutation. This one I've never seen before. It's a bear with a very thin coat of fur, it had a dog face with sharp teeth and tusks, and it's body was covered in armor. It was snarling with blood in it's mouth.

I know Persia's arrows wouldn't pierce it and neather would Crimson's sword. I notice that there's an axe in it's back, so I can tell that Artimis tried to fight it off. I pull out the whip and I crack it at the mutt. I do this repeatedly until it get's scared enough to leave.

I dash to Artimis' side. She was breathing heavily, still exhausted from running. "Artimis, what happened? Where's Excalibar?", I yelled at her to get a hold of her attention.

"I don't know he ran the other way. That thing killed Nathine. It was horrible, it's teeth ripped him apart...", she answered hyperventilating.

"Get a hold of yourself!", Persia shouts slapping her twice across the face. I couldn't help but laugh a little.

"Okay, I'm fine!", she screams out. We start to walk away and I hear footsteps from behind us. I turn around and crack the whip getting Derma across the cheek but she shoots an arrow that hits Artimis in the chest. Derma holds her cheek and runs off. Artimis falls to her knees, and has a painfully surprised look on her face. The arrow went straight through her, and lodged itself in her chest.

"Echo...Persia, make sure you kill that...", Artimis says with her last breath. She falls backwards onto her back with her knees still folded. I took this as permission to leave, and I run seeing Derma in my sights, she looks back and starts to scream. I feel the rush of anger run down my face. I crack the whip and it rips the back of her shirt, and she cries out in pain. I try again but this time I trip and she gets away. Persia catches up to me, and she helps me up.

"Persia, we can't let them get away with doing stuff like that!", I say cringing from the fall. The cannon shoots out, and I know that Artimis is dead for sure.

"We won't, we'll kill them before they can get to any other one of us. Now come on, we got a useless mutt running around, that we have to kill.", Persia answers giving the most evil smile I'd ever seen from her.

We continue on looking for either Excalibar or Caston, Jareda, and Derma. While we walked, Persia and I reminiced about old times.

"Remember, the first free-for-all where we teamed up and you took out 4 people when we were surrounded.", I told her.

"You've done better in trainings. You were smart enough to get everyone in the electrified water, by setting the forest surronding us on fire, remember that was the third free-for-all!", we laughed, because besides my whipping people left and right, that was my crowning achievement. We slowed down to a meadow, not the one with the cornucopia, but a meadow with beautiful flowers and butterflies. I wasn't sure, but I think I can hear mockingjays singing too.

"This place is beautiful!" I say sounding the happiest I've had the whole time I've been in the arena. I hear another footstep uneven with ours, and like the first time, I threw the whip and I got something by the neck. I was hoping it was Jareda. I pulled whatever it was through the bushes it was hiding in, and my wish came true. It was Jareda.

I pulled her towards me and got her in a head lock. Persia readies her arrow, and points it at Jareda's heart. Jareda was able to choke out a couple words, "What are you doing I'm on your side!"

"Stop lying, Jareda, Artimis told us everything, that's why you ran away, right? You saw Artimis and knew she was going to tell us about your plan with Caston and Derma!", Persia says.

"One question before we kill you, Jareda.", I say

"What would that be?", Jareda answers.

"How did you know that I told Excalibar that secret?"

"I just happened to come in at the right moment, and I heard it all. I decided to use myself to kill you. Hey, Echo, guess what!", Jareda asks.

"What?", I answered.

"I told...Sestra to...drop her ball, and...I tripped Crimson!", she said laughing. I get furious and start to squeeze her neck harder. "Caston now!", she yells out, before I break her neck. Caston pops out of the tall grass and throws a spear at Persia, who at the same time fired an arrow into his cheek.

"Ah...", I hear Persia spit out as she falls to ground. Caston yells out louder and runs off. Jareda's cannon fired and I run to Persia's side.

"Persia, No!" I felt like crying but I know that I shouldn't in front of her.

"Echo, don't leave me here alone, please.", she breathes out.

"No, I'm not going anywhere!", I tell her.

"I'm not going to make it, Echo.", she says.

"No, you're going to make it, you're going to win this game. Be strong Persia! Please!"

"Sit me up against the tree, please", I do as she says, and I ask her why. "The sun is going down, and I wanted to see my last sunset." The hovercraft comes into view and picks up Jareda's body.

"It's not your last sunset! You're a fighter! Fight it, Persia, please! Fight!"

"Echo, I'm not stupid. I'm going down right now, just like the sun. Here take my pin. It's yours now.", she hands me her District token, a mockingjay pin, like my necklace. "Hey, Echo...Stop it. Smile. Come on smile, I want to see that thirteen year old I met in the arena, that one day.", she tells me and I try to smile, but I sort of get a mix of a laughing frown. "Come on before I go, I want to see a smile. Remember what we used to do when you were sad."

"Yes, I do.", I say and nod. I try to give her the smile she asked for, but it's still to hard.

"Yeah, you remember. I use to tickle you!", she pokes my stomach and she's laughing. I try to hold back my laughter but it gets out. "Can you sing to me...my favorite song. Remember the first one you sang when we met...the Hanging tree." I couldn't hold my tears in anymore, I was smiling but I was also crying. "Come on...cheer up. I'm going somewhere better than this place.", she wipes tears off my face. "Sing, Echo. You always were the best..."

I begin the song and I watch her slowly fade away. I shake her as I sing the song to keep her awake.

_"Are you, are you_

_Coming to the tree_

_Where they strung up a man they say murdered three._

_Strange things did happen here_

_No stranger would it be_

_If we met up at midnight in the hanging tree._

_Are you, are you_

_Coming to the tree_

_Where the dead man called out for his love to flee._

_Strange things did happen here_

_No stranger would it be_

_If we met up at midnight in the hanging tree._

_Are you, are you_

_Coming to the tree_

_Where I told you to run so we'd both be free._

_Strange things did happen here_

_No stranger would it be_

_If we met up at midnight in the hanging tree._

_Are you, are you_

_Coming to the tree_

_Wear a necklace of rope, side by side with me._

_Strange things did happen here_

_No stranger would it be_

_If we met up at midnight in the hanging tree."  
_

When I look up at her I see that her eyes are closed and she has a peaceful smile on her face. I try to wake her up. I slap her, but she doesn't wake up. No matter what I do she doesn't wake up and her smile never clears off her face. I'm on my knees yelling in pain at the top of my lungs. "Persia! Don't Go! Pleeeaase, Persia, please!" She doesn't move at all. While I'm breaking down next to her body, I realize that she is in a better place. Why else would she be smiling? I ly her body down so the falling sunlight can reach her. I wipe my tears and I kiss her forehead as a send-off. I take her bow and arrows and some supplies from her pack. I go and retrieve my whip, which is broken and useless to me. Persia's cannon fires, and the mockingjays flutter around and warn of the upcoming hovercraft. There is something odd about this hovercraft, it just zooms into view faster than the rest do, it quickly takes Persia, and as fast as it came into view, it leaves. As soon as it leaves there is silence for a minute and then the mockingjays continue singing. Only this time they are singing my song. I walk away and I don't look back, I don't want to see her being taken away completely.

I think about the song I had just sung to her. I meant a lot to me. My mother showed it to me, she said that her grandma showed it to her. I sung that song when I first met Persia in our first free-for-all beach arena. I find a tree to go to sleep in for the night, and I set up to wait for the anthem to play. The Capital seal appears and my dead friends faces appear:

_**District 2: Persia Ross**_

_**District 4: Jareda Asleen**_

_**District 6: Nathine Gallaghr**_

_**District 11: Artimis Zing**_

Chapter 13

I wake up the next morning. I get down from my perch and pack up. I put Persia's pin on my shirt and start to make my way. I don't know where I'm going, but all I know is that I'm out to kill. I walk about a mile when a silver parachute lands my way. I open the canister and I find a brand new metallic whip, gloves, and a note. The note said, "Dear Echo, Please except this whip as a gift of my gratitude for taking care of Persia. This new longer bullwhip should be able to assist you. Hold the handle strongly and see what happens, if you need something to keep the handle from hurting your palm I included the gloves for holding it. From your new Friend, Morson of District 2."

Morson...of District 2, that's Persia's Boyfriend...he is real! I do what the note said, and grip the handle tightly and thorns pop out of the whip. _Amazing_, I thought to myself. I try it out and aim for a boulder. I crack the whip and reduce the boulder to rubble. I use the gloves to retract the whip, which is why I notice there is sharp stone at the end of it, I feel it and I know it's a diamond. "Thank you, Morson! I hope you know that your girlfriend, my best friend, was the best person in all of Panem...", I shout out and I know that the cameras are on me now.

I continue on, and I come to a river and see that some of the rocks are blood stained. I follow them, and they lead me to an empty camp. I see sleeping bags, food, and Derma with her hair tied in a pony tail, practicing fighting on a tree. I hide my whip and put down my stuff down and say, "Hey, Derma.", she turns around surprised.

"Oh, Hi, Echo. I didn't think you'd ever find me.", she says wrapping bandages around her hands and making fists.

"And pass up the oppurtunity of killing you myself, never!" I say getting ready for a hand to hand fight.

"That's funny, you think you're going to kill me...just like Caston did to Persia, and I did to Artimis and Kessie?", she laughs. This makes me mad and I move in close and spit on her! "Oh, a fiesty one, huh!", she releases a whip from beind her showing me that she has my old one.

"How did you..."

"I've been watching you in training, I learned how to fix a broken one and how to make one.". We start to circle with eyes locked on each other.

"Derma, you always were a little girl. Now, put the whip down, you have no idea what you're doing."

"Why should I, so you could get it?"

"Derma, I don't need a whip, badly fixed like that, to kill you... just like I did to Nathine and Jareda." I know I didn't actually kill Nathine, but Derma was in love with him, and just like she mocked me by pointing out Persia's death, I pointed out Nathine's death. This made her angry and she charged. She started throwing punches and I threw them right back. She kicked my side, and I tripped her and made her eat dirt. She threw a spear head into my temple. I pushed her head against a tree. She punched me in the mouth, and I pulled her hair backwards.

This went on for 2-3 minutes until she got far away enough to try and whip me. She cracked it once, but since I'm more experienced I grab the whip and snap it right back at her. She loses control of it and the handle whips her in the eye. "Ah! My eye!" she screams holding her face, "You better pray you win this fight, or I'm gonna torture the hell out of you.", she sighs and picks up the whip, but before she does I pull out mine and show it off. Her jaw drops, and her eyes get big. She drops the whip and tries to run.

"Not this time!" I crack the whip and make sure it wraps around her. I pull her in and she begins to beg.

"Please, don't kill me. I have so much to live for!", she starts to beg.

"Ah, what's the matter Derma? I'm guessing that you didn't pray to win this fight, because now I'm gonna torture the hell out of you!", all this killing and dying has gone straight to my head, because right now I don't feel the guilt I would've had from the beginning of the games. I slowly start to squeeze the handle, and she starts to release sharp squeals of pain. She looks up toward the sky and lets out one last shriek, and she passes out of the pain.

I release her of the whip and using the diamond on the point of the whip to write a message in the dirt for Caston or Excalibar to find next to Derma. I write down "Meet me at the cornucopia, Love Echo!". She starts to come to, and I finish her with a powerful crack of the whip, which wraps around her neck. I release the thorns from the whip, and pull it tightly so she runs out of air, and at that moment her cannon fires. I walk up to her body and look at the girl who killed some of my friends, I spit on her and say, "Pathetic...".

I walk away and realize that I just killed an innocent girl. The girl that I talked to that day on the roof. The girl whose mother is all she has. I remember in the 4th free-for-all, I found Derma hiding in bushes, shaking. She was alone. For some, reason nobody liked her. I decided to help her. We made it to the final five before the other three, besides us, Jenten, Darwin, and Crimson, went on to knocking us out. I just finished off the shy, hated girl hiding in the bushes. I remember the look in her big brown eyes when I found her. She had arrows in her hand but she didn't know how to use them. After we had been knocked out, I taught her how to use them, and in exchange she taught me some stuff from District 5. Now the little twelve year old from three years ago, was dead.

I get my things and start on my way back to the cornucopia. Stupid Caston must of thought that leaving Derma to protect their supplies was enough. Obviously not. I take his iron claws, just in case of we get into close combat. I throw all there food in the river and take some myself.

I end up going up the mountain where Persia and I stayed the last night she was alive, and I see that the hovercraft has just taken Derma's body. I starts to rain and I think it would be better to wait in the cave for the rain to stop. I sneak into the cave. I realize we left Persia's silver parachute, and there is a note attached to it, I didn't even notice it. I pick it up and read it. "Dear Persia, This is a remedy for a fever which you obviously have. It is straight from the District 2 hospital that we run. Think of us when your cured, and we'll be waiting at home. Love, Mom and Dad", it was heart felt and I'm glad that Persia had something from home before she passed. I fall asleep in no time and before you know it I'm awaken by the anthem playing in the rainy sky. I slept through the whole day. I see the one face and it's of the person I was happy to release from these games.

_**District 5: Derma Majester**_

Something different happened tonight after the anthem played again. Claudius Templesmith's, the announcer, voice came on and announced, "Now, That there is only four of you left, we will be serving a very special dinner at the Cornucopia tomorrow, and all four of you are invited. Have a nice day, and may the odds be ever in your favor!", and as quickly as his voice came in, it's out.

Four of us? I only remember that it's Excalibar, Caston, and...oh. I remember now. Trenton from District 8. I saw him when I was running from the cornucopia. I saw him run into the forest without anything._ I appluad the boy from District 8 who scored an 11, he's been able to make it this far without anything_. A cannon fires. _Oh, never mind._

I wake up the next morning and I know that I'm going straight to the cornucopia, because I have a dinner date with one of Panem's eligable bachelors, and one that is soon to be married. I feel like I should do something to show that Persia was my friend, and if I die people will always know. Over the mouth of the cave I carve in, "Here lies the friendship of Echo Ivy and Persia Ross, two mockingjays that seperated to soon."

I locate where the cornucopia might be from the top of the mountain, and I also see dark ominous clouds over it. I pull out some dried fruit, and some of the leftover soup that Akiliya had sent me two days ago. I start walking in the general direction of the cornucopia, and I pass a cave that I was positive wasn't there. This is where Artimis got shot by Derma, and where Artimis was cornered by the cliff wall. There was no huge cave behind us when we saved her. I hear low-pitch screeching voices from inside the cave, and I know what it is, a nest of Bellow Bats. I was once attacked by some in the 2nd free-for-all in the Elite's training ground. The arena was in an underground chasm. They're also Capitol Mutations.

These nasty little creature are bats that don't have eyes. but they can sense anything. Movement, breathing, heartbeats, etc. The edges of their wings can cut through skin, and they have screeches that are really low, so it's sort of like an explosion when they get together. These facts are enough for me to get ready to run when I hear their bellows beginning to get closer.

I start to run and I was right, they were coming out, and nothing I can do can keep them from sensing me. I see some getting closer to me and I can feel their wings slashing my back. I can see more trees, like the ones I found on the first day, and I can hear buzzing. A loud powerful buzzing, and from a cross two rows of trees, I see Excalibar running from Tracker Jackers. Tracker Jackers are the deadliest type of wasps/hornets in the world. Also Capital Mutations.

Chapter 14

He's jumping off fallen logs. I think that this is my chance to get rid of him, but if I attack him I'll have Tracker Jackers, and Bellow Bats on my tail. I see Excalibar uses a slingshot to distract the Tracker Jackers. I remember that I have my whistle, the one sent to me to get rid of the Noice Crackers. I find it in my pocket and struggle to get it in my mouth. Once it's in, I blow on it so hard, the Bellow Bats start to retreat quickly and I see that some of the Tracker Jackers are falling dead one by one.

I see Excalibar run towards me. I expect to be attacked, so I bring out the whip. He stops and quickly and catches his breath. "Echo...you're still alive!", he cheers and tries to get near me, but after being here for a week and a half, I'm not used to getting touched.

"Excalibar, what happened after you and Artimis seperated?" I say, still having the whip ready. He explains the story on how they got seperated by the rhinoca-bear. He says he soon meet up a couple times with Caston and they've been having fights with no big results. I tell him what had happened since he seperated from Artimis. He was distraught when I told him about Persia's death. After our conversation we agreed to team up until Caston was dead, and then we are free to turn our weapons on each other.

We walk to the cornucopia, and I see the spot where Juno was killed. I could still see the blood drenched grass from where I axed Issac in the head. If that's here, then I'm near the platform from where I started. Where I saw Sestra blow herself up. _I forgot the ball,_ I remember, that's why I came back, and met Persia, Excalibar, and Crimson. "Wait up a minute, Excalibar, I need to get something." I see a bush of flowers and I pick some. Excaliber follows me around the other platforms. I put a flower on each platform that belonged to the people who had died, except for Persia and Sestra, I put four on theirs. The platform that belonged to Sestra was still scorched.

Excalibar patted my back, and I let him, because I know I could've trusted him. I hear a loud roar, and I see Caston running towards us with his spear ready to throw. The roar didn't come from him or the Noise Crackers chasing him, which as soon as he started to go down to the cornucopia, stopped. We went straight down to end his life in this arena. Then I realize that that the roar came from the earth. It was an earthquake. The ground was opening around the cornucopia. I didn't know what to do it was just horrible. I couldn't stand at all, I was falling on all fours constantly. I see a crack in the floor opening up before me, so I know I have to get myself, and Excalibar across safely. I grab his arm and jump over the opening. We're going left and right trying to avoid the opening cracks in the earth below us. As soon as I reach the cornucopia, the earth's trembling seems to soften, and then fades away completely. It starts to drizzle, and the gray clouds above us start to crack with thunder.

We climb the cornucopia and meet Caston on the top. The earthquake was caused by the gamemakers, obviously. Excalibar instantly jumps on to Caston and they fight. I didn't know what to do. I told Excalibar to hold him down so I can kill Caston. "I'm trying!" he yelled out everytime. Then I got the bow and arrow in perfect position to hit Caston, but he sees me, and when I shoot the arrow, he tosses Excalibar in front of himself and I hear a low grunt come from him. The arrow pierced his heart. Caston pushes him off and he jumps on me. _This is it, Caston just won the 55th annual Hunger Games, the odds were always in his favor_, I thought as I saw my whole life in the arena flash before my eyes.

"I killed Persia, Urwin, Trenton, Lilia, and now I'm going to kill you!", he said. _What was with his team and mocking me?_

I can see that the sky above me is dark and I can see sparks in the cloud. I spit in his face and say, "I killed Jareda, Derma, Issac, Richest, and Nathine your kills aren't anything compared to mine!".

"I'm going to enjoy doing this!", he growls and he raises up the spear. I'm not down for the count though. He stabs it down into where I am, but I move my head, I push him off and I get up. I plunge one of Persia's arrows into his back. He shouts in pain but it's not enough to kill him. I grab Crimson's sword and drive it through his shoulder and pin him to the cornucopia. He refuses to die, so I pull a dagger out of Excalibar's pocket and pin his leg down to the cornucopia.

Caston screams out in pain, but he's still alive and cursing at me. I didn't know what else to do. I hear something beeping, I look up and see a parachute, and I see a rod with a spike for an end. It's for me. No note, but the side says it all, it's a lightning rod. I grab Excalibar and throw him over the side of the cornucopia making sure he lands on my pack that I threw done before him.

Caston is yelling, kicking and is trying to get detached from the cornucopia. It seems to be helping him because the dagger and the sword seem to wiggle out, but I did not come all this way, and lose all my friends, to lose. I grabbed the lightning rod and shout out, " Hey Caston, Persia's arrow, Crimson's sword, Excalibar's knife, and my lightning rod! Think of this as a reunion of parting friends!", and I push it into his right sholder and I make sure it finds its way through the cornucopia. He's stuck for sure. He realize's what I just did, and he starts to yell out, "Don't leave me to die this way! You bastard!".

I jump off and land on the packs. I pick them up and I carry Excalibar away from the cornucopia. I don't dare look back, when I hear the lightning hit, I hear Caston's scream for a short period, and zap, he was dead. Everything on the cornucopia went flying into the air, and his cannon fired.

I dragged Excaliber to his platform and I waited for him to die, because he was on the fast track to doing that. I sat next to him, and he started to talk. "Echo, If you win, tell Carmenella that I love her, now and forever."

"I will..", I look him in the eyes and say, then I wonder, _what does he mean by "If"_, and it hits me. Well, actually Excalibar stabs me.

Chapter 15

Excalibar just stabbed me in the stomach. I'm bleeding out quickly, so I look at him and I tell him what I've always thought of him. "Excalibar, you were my hero. I looked up to you, I saw you like a brother.", I started to choke, feeling the blood pouring out of my mouth.

"I'm sorry Echo, I have to go back and see Carmenella! I'm sorry for everything. Forgive me?", he says crying, with his face covered in blood stains. I remember saying that if I made it to the final two with Excalibar, I would give up my life so he can continue on. It makes sense, because out of all of us, Excalibar would probably be the best Elite. Then it would be Persia, Urwin, Crimson, and then me. I guess I'm going to stay true to what I said. Excalibar is going to win this, now I'm just going to close my eyes, slip away, and then meet up with all the other Elites in that better place people call death.

"I do.", these are my last words to him. When I look up I see that the spear that Caston tried to impale me with, is coming down with a lot of velocity. I see it land right next to me and in Excalibar. The cannon fires and I close his eyes. I start to sing safe and sound again because I know I'm going to die right know as well. I hear trumpets playing and Claudius Templesmith is saying something, everything is fading out to me, ao I can barely understand.

I fall back and I see that I'm being lifted into the sky by the hovercraft above me. _What's the use I'm already going to die, and if there's a chance of saving me, just let me die. All my friends are dead._ All I know is everything is fading away.

I wake up and find that I'm no longer in the arena. I'm on a table in what I think is a hospital. The door slides open and Akiliya walks in. She looks happy to see me. "Echo, congradulations! You won!", she says while hugging me.

"Wait, where's Sestra...and Excalibar...and Persia?", I look around hysterically to see if they're here and about to pop out and surprise me.

"Echo, don't you remember?", Akiliya sits down next to me. "They died...in the arena...with you."

"I died?"

"Only a matter of minutes, but they were able to revive you.", she explains.

"No, you're playing a trick on me, Persia and Excaliber are going to pop out of those curtains, huh? And Sestra...Sestra is probably home right now eating dinner with her family.", I run to the curtains and push them apart to see that no one is there. I see a window, I can see that I'm high up, because I can see towers and the top of buildings. I was still in the Capital. "If they're not there, then I'm guessing Sestra isn't back home in District 7. What happened, Akiliya?", my eyes tear up.

"You won the Hunger Games.", this statement alone answers all my questions, all my friends were dead. I get walked to the room where I lived in the week before the games. When I'm inside I realize that my wound might still be bleeding, I lift up my shirt but nothing is there. It's like the games had been wiped away from my physical appearence and some from my memory.

I take a shower, and I dress, I jump onto the bed. I start this weird mixture of laughing and crying. I start off by crying, and then it becomes a scene. I'm laughing just because I can. Everything becomes a joke to me. Seran comes rushing into the room, "What's the matter?", she says in her high-pitched voice.

"I just won the Hunger Games!", I say laughing with tears in my eyes. Later on that night I try going to sleep knowing what dreams and nightmares await me. I start to countdown the people who were in the arena with me to help me sleep.

_**District 1: Richest Wave**_

_**District 1: Crimson War**_

_**District 2: Excalibar Precense**_

_**District 2: Persia Ross**_

_**District 3: Darwin Bolt**_

_**District 3: Nessa Wire**_

_**District 4: Caston Segwada**_

_**District 4:**_ _**Jareda Asleen **_

_**District 5: Issac Stroid**_

_**District 5: Derma Majester**_

_**District 6: Nathine Galaghr**_

_**District 6: Caitlyn Calliton**_

_**District 7: Sestra Celenova**_

_**District 8: Trenton Venoose**_

_**District 8: Lilia Harvord**_

_**District 9: Alex Zecko**_

_**District 9: Clydessa Dardez**_

_**District 10: Urwin Carnivous**_

_**District 10: Kessie Firstina**_

_**District 11: Artimis Zing**_

_**District 11: Jason Zing**_

_**District 12: Jenten Mao**_

_**District 12: Juno Badge**_

I miss them all. I loved all of them, even though they turned evil in the games, it wasn't there fault. It was the Capital's fault for pinning us there against our will. _Pin!_ I got up and turn on the light, and searched for Persia's pin and my necklace, and there they were on the nightstand. I feel safe again, knowing that the two mockingjays were back together again. I held on to the pin, which to me symbolizes my best friend's spirit being with me.

I woke up the next day and was sent to my prep team, to be prepped for the presentation of the victor, which is me. They all start to cry, because they truly are happy to see me. They get me ready, and they send me off to the head stylist, Tigris. I practically run into the room and yell out, "Tigris, I'm ba-". It's not Tigris in the room, but Stone, Sestra's stylist. "Hello, Stone, where's Tigris?", I ask.

"She was fired, but she told me to give this to you if you won!", Stone says handing me an envelope. I take a card out, and it has a paw print as a design. I open the card and it says, "Congradulations, Echo. If you are reading this you've won the Hunger Games. Don't worry about me, but for now listen to Stone I left him a design made especially for you. It's simple, but it's something not a lot of designers do anymore, it's unique...like you. Good Luck, and I'll see you at the banquet for your sponsers. Love, Tigris".

I felt lucky to have known her and glad that I will see her again. "Let's do this Stone!", I say. He gets me prepared just as quick as Tigris did.

Chapter 16

"Ladies and Gentlemen! The winner of the 55th Annual Hunger Games...Echo Ivy!", Caesar Flickerman cheers on while I walk down the steps to my seat.

"Hello again, Caesar!" I say.

"Hello to you, too. As you know you've won the Hunger Games, that's one title on it's own, but you won a very special one. Do you know why?" he asks me, I can feel the cameras zoom in on me.

"Yes, because I beat every other Elite." I say nodding my head.

"Yes, what a smart boy you are. Now that means you're the best Elite in all of Panem. I mean your smart, compassionate, agile, strong, and really good looking!", the audience goes crazy, "Come on we got some clips, let's show him what we're talking about. We'll start out with agility.", a monitor shows a clip of me running from Crimson and doing a perfect jump over the fallen tree. "Now let's show him compassionate!", a clip of me helping Persia, and singing to Excalibar and her. "Now strong!" a clip of me breaking Jareda's neck, and killing Issac, Caston, Richest, and Derma. "let's move on to smart." It shows my final moments in the arena. Caston pinned to the cornucopia, and me "strategically" placing Excalibar on the platform where the spear later landed on him. "And good-looking...well your the one sitting in front of us!"

"Thank you, I appreciate it. Especially from a city filled with beautiful people!" Everyone applauds themselves. _Yeah, a city of stuck-up, self-centered..._Caesar interupts my train of thought, "You're also very talented. That singing, it was superb. Where did you learn to sing like that! And the song itself made me cry so much when you sang it to Persia! I almost cried all over myself and Claudius!", he laughs and so does the audience.

"Singing comes natural to me. It's probably heredity, my mother is just as good as me or even better. The song was taught to me by my mother and she was taught by her grandmother."

"Well can I ask you a couple a questions, is that okay?"

"You ask the questions you want!", I answer.

"Okay, How did you know where to put Excalibar so he could get killed by the spear?"

"Actually, I didn't know that would happen, I thought Excalibar would die on his own of the bleeding."

"Wow! So it was just fate that helped you win! It sounds like there is someone up there keeping an eye out for you!"

"I guess that there is, so many people wanted to help me win. It was either that or the odds were really in my favor.", I state and the crowd laughs.

"Yes, Persia and Sestra. Now tell me how did you feel when you saw Sestra...blow herself...sky high?"

"I felt like giving up on everything, like I should've stepped off the plate and blown myself up, but I knew there were people back home depending on me to return."

"How long did you know Persia?"

"Since our first training in the Elite Ground. I meet her while we were practicing in an old Beach Arena. We teamed up and got to the end, but we were knocked out. She really was my best friend."

After an hour of clips of me and answering questions we come to the conclusion. Caesar says "This our last question, are you ready?"

"Shoot..."

"How do you feel about all your friends that died in the arena?" cameras zoom in on me, and people all over are sitting on the edge of their chairs.

"That's not a hard question to answer," I start off saying, " I respected all of them. I loved them all. When it came down to it we were always a family, we could always depend on each other. I feel that they are the lucky ones. They are all in a better place. I remember that Persia told me to lean her against the tree so she could see her last sunset. To me that was the only beauty in this world, and I feel that every one of the Elites knew how to appreciate this beauty. Now everytime I see the sunset or sunrise I will always think of them, and the fun times we've had together. I will look at the sun and know that each of my friends is safe and sound."

_**The End**_


	3. Chapter 3

_Safe & Sound_

Chapter 1

We all stand for the Anthem of Panem. We stand through the history of our country and how "wonderful" it is. Ever since the reaping three years ago, I bear total and complete hatred towards the Capital, and it's politicians. We all sit down, because the Escort, Seran Arrow, is about to begin this horrible ceremony. She stands on tall shoes that make it look like it's harder for her to walk. Her wood brown mini dress tops a longer dark green one. Her hair is down and it practically looks like a sheild. She always dresses like a crazy tree, in honor of the tributes that have died under her watch. She pulls out a name from the girl's bowl and then the boy's bowl. While she does this I have a horrible flashback to the reaping three years ago. In that reaping the name for the girls belonged to one of two of my bestfriends, Venice. She was sent up, and before Seran could read the name for the boys, my other best friend volunteered to be the boy tribute of District 7 to help protect Venice. I return to this point in time and she is about to randomly chose which envelope to open first, the boys or the girls.

She grabs the envelope, kisses it, and says "May the odds be ever in your favor!". She opens it, and she nods. "Echo Ivy!" The whole square goes silent and turns to me. I'm not worried one bit about the Hunger Games, not after all the training I've recieved, if anything this is really unfair to the other District tributes. I get up off my seat and walk up to the stage. The Peacekeepers don't bother to guard me on the way up, they know I'll go without a fight. I don't know what to say about the girl who gets chosen.

"Ladies, you next!", she says and looks over to the side with the girls in it. She studies the card and then smirks. "Clair Orchid...", she says. I know this name, and the odd of me winning have just became 22 out of 24.

"Wait!", someone yells out in the crowd of girls everyone turns. "I volunteer!" I scan the area for the idiot who just volunteered to be sent to their death. I look and there is a circle of girls around one who stands up off her seat. Sestra! She runs up to the stage and climbs up to the stage and yells out again, "I volunteer as tribute!". My odds just droped from 22 to 0 out of 24. I couldn't kill my(figurative) little sister.

"Okay, we have our tributes of District 7! Echo Ivy and...Sestra Celenova!", Seran calls out the names again, as Sestra and I stand in front of everyone in District 7. I can see my father holding my mother as she weeps hysterically. My older brother next to them, he stares at us and his eyes are red with anger, because he knows he can't do anything for me now. Sestra moves in closer to me and hugs me. I'm still angry with her because of the stunt she just pulled.

Seran, our escort, moves in front of us and announces that we will now be allowed to see our visitors in the Justice Building. We are walked in while our new mentor, Akiliya Becca, talks to Seran. I walk in my room, where I will await my visitors. First it's my mom and dad, along with my little sister, Brazilia.

"We'll be rooting for you!" my mom said holding in tears.

"We'll be waiting to see you back here, don't worry if you remember everything the training has taught you, you will come back.", my dad says assuring me that I was going to make it. I hold Brazilia and cradle her in my arms, as she coos and giggles, I couldn't help but think that this would be the last time I'd ever see her. The peacekeepers pull them out and I kiss Brazilia goodbye, and the door slams. A minute of silence passes and my brothers rush in and surround me. My little brother, Leo, grabs on to me and he holds on while my older brother, Arslo, and I talk.

"You are going to be okay," he says grabbing me by the shoulders and shaking me, "as long as you use what the training taught you."

"I remember every single thing, but it's not me you should worry about me, take care of Brazilia and Leo!", as I say his name he squeezes me harder. "Leo!", I yell at him, "Listen to me. I'm probably not gonna come back..."

"Echo, he doesn't want to hear this!" Arslo stops me.

"No, he has to know!" I continue, "If I don't come back, you have to promise to take care of Brazilia, and yourself. Pay attention to everything Dad and Arslo teach you! Promise!" he nods. The poor thing is mute, doesn't talk for anything. I never knew why, and I might never will. "Arslo, when you leave, can you ask Sestra's dad to come?"

"I will, but for now good-bye, Jabberjay." he reaches over and puts his favorite necklace around my neck. It's a mockingjay in a gold circle and an arrow in its beak.

"I can't take it, it's yours." I protest.

"Think of it as a family emblem, and a district token. Plus it's good luck. I know how much you like to sing, and this little fellow represents that." I was ready to start crying and then the Peacekeepers come in and pulls them out.

"Take care of the family, both of you, I'll be back, I promise." I yell out a lie after they leave. Right after they leave my friend, Clair, walks in. She was supposed to be the girl tribute until Sestra, volunteered for the spot.

"I'm sorry, that I'm not going in with you..." she said muffling the words by covering her mouth, so I wouldn't hear that she was going to cry.

"Don't worry you couldn't do anything about it." I hug her before she starts to explode with tears. Sestra volunteered for her and I'm still mad at her. Now that she is in it, it means that I'm going to have to try to protect my dear friend with my life.

"I came to give you this, they all pitched in, they bought it as soon as you were sent in here." she says handing me a card with all my friends name on it. "They knew you wouldn't have enough time to see us all.", She was right and even right now I only have about 15 minutes left to still see people. We talk more, and she encourages me that it isn't unfair to use all the things I've been taught as an Elite. This is something we are trained in, to survive a Hunger Game. What were the chances that both Elites of District 7 would be chosen as tributes. This is absolute craziness. A couple more friends walk in after her, and we all enjoy our last conversation. "Remember, you don't have to kill anyone, you just have to survive.", Clair recounts to hug goodbye, and they all leave, only to be followed by Sestra's dad.

"I'm sorry, that your daughter volunteered to help me.", I say looking down at my feet knowing that he might be holding a grudge on me for somehow getting his daughter to face certain death.

"She did do it to protect you, but she also said that as her last wish, she doesn't want me to be angry at you. I wasn't in the first place, I know she sees you like a big brother, and that's why she did it.", he assures me that he isn't angry at me.

"I promise that she will be back, I am going to protect her, even if it means my death.", I look him in the eye. I can tell that it makes him feel better. The Peacekeepers escort him out and I'm off to the train. On the way ther I have another flashback. It was watching my friend, Joel volunteering to help Venice in the 52nd annual Hunger Games. I remember seeing him get killed on the screen in the town square. I really hope that this volunteering business won't end up like the one from three years past. Joel made the same promise to protect Venice, just like I promised to protect Sestra. Hopefully I don't fail like he did. I hope...

Chapter 2

I walk into the train station being escorted by the Peacekeepers, and the train awaits us. I step on the plate waiting for the door to open for us. I look back to see what I'm leaving behind, I see my family and friends looking at us as with despair in their eyes. The door slides open and we're hit with cool air from what Seran says is called an air conditioner. I walk in and rush to a window to see us pulling out of the station. When I reach it, my family has passed already.

I walk into my quarters for the trip to the Capital, and I practically drool over the rooms features. I haven't been in one of these trains since I was 13, when I had just been chosen to be part of a group called the Elites. They sent us to the Capital, as part of an examianation, which I passed. Two kids from each district were sent as part of it, randomly. We've had training sessions since then, but we don't go in these fancy trains anymore. It's always a hovercraft. Just thinking about being an Elite scares me. Especially what I have to do in case I'm ever chosen as a tribute in the Hunger Games. I can't even think about it, so I do anything to get my mind off of it.

I walk into the shower and spend at most twenty-five minutes. I push all the buttons that I remember using. When I come out, I smell like a whole bouquet of different flowers, and the shower is litered with dirt and pine needles that we're still left on me. They left clothes in the closet space in the room, and I don't remember that being there when I came in. Whatever. I chose a simple black shirt, and jeans. I put on the Mockingjay necklace, and head off to the dining hall. There I find Akiliya talking to Sestra, this is there first time meeting, but I've known Akiliya for a long time.

I first met Akiliya when one of my assignments as an Elite was to learn and study from a past winner. I was given Akiliya to learn with. She was the only one in her game that killed people. The careers from her games all died in a mountain explosion, which did wipe off most of the tributes. All she had was a pack and a single rope. She turned it into a lasso and used it to kill off the rest of the tributes. I also liked how she got people to believe she was a weak contendor. She used sadness, and "depression" to convince people she wasn't worth the kill.

I get to the buffet and stack my plate with so much food, yet I contained myself so I can impress our Escort, Seran. She has as much power over sponsers as Akiliya. I sit down with all them at the table, and they are talking about what we have to do to look appealing to sponsers. I've had this talk with Akiliya already so I can sit back, eat, and listen. I already know this stuff anyways. As an Elite, I'm trained in almost everything imaginable. I already planned what I want for us to wear for the presentation while I was taking shower. The pine needles were my inspiration for this.

"So what your saying is that I'll need to pretty up more than I usually do?", Sestra asks questioning it. Around District 7 no one usually "pretties" up, girls at school usually keep there hair down, or in a pony tail. I know what to do to my hair, I know that to the Capital, the bigger the better. A boy's hair is simple, spike it up, or hike it down. I'm thinking about doing something completely different.

"That's exactly what I'm saying, just ask Echo over here, he knows about it, after all he is an Elite.", Akiliya answers her pointing me out.

"An Elite?", she asks looking at me more intrested than she has ever.

"It's nothing big...", I tell her. I never really told Sestra about my Elite Status, even though I trained her with some weapons, that I keep hidden.

"Nothing big!", Seran cuts in, "Elites are something really big in the districts and even in the Capital!", she exclaims.

"Wait, what's an Elite?", Sestra asks finally.

"An Elite is someone who is knowingly being trained by the Capital, and in the event of another war, they are are used as leaders in the Capital's side. They are only 24, two from each district.", Akiliya says as if she's making me look a lot better, "We are going to use his Elite status to help us get sponsers for you two."

"It honestly is nothing, Sestra.", I say to her so she ignores it, but she keeps pushing it.

"It is something...this is what's going to keep you alive, which tribute is going to mess with an Elite!", she's overjoyed.

"I know it'll keep me alive, but what's gonna keep you alive!", I get up and slam my hands down on the table.

"What do you mean, what's gonna keep me alive, it's you who has to live, you're an Elite.", she says jumping up as well. "Am I right?", she looks around and everyone has averted there eyes to me, they want me to tell her the truth.

I sit down, and I tell her, "Sestra, Elite's are killing machines. If an Elite is ever chosen to be part of the Hunger Games, it's his or her job to win...no matter what."

"Tell her the rest...", Akiliya tells me softly.

"Tell me what?", Sestra lowers her volume.

"It's my job to kill my district partner, as long as he or she is not another Elite.", I finally say. The whole cart goes silent. Seran gets up walks over to a velvet couch and continues doing her make up. Akiliya looks down at her plate and continues to eat.

"Well, then I don't have to protect you anymore? Because as soon as you see me in the arena you'll have to kill me?", Sestra sits back down.

"No, not true, there is a loop hole.", Seran says with a smile holding back a giggle, as if we were going to thank her for her knowledge. We all look at her waiting for the answer, especially me because I really don't want to kill my figuritive little sister. "Well, if you have to know, in order for an elite to avoid killing their district partner, his or her partner has to get a score of nine or higher."

I see hope, but all she has to do is get a high score, and I've taught Sestra a couple of weapons. Iron claws, swords, and bows and arrows. "Seran! Is there anywhere on the train were we could train?", I ask her in a hurry.

"There is a cart in the back.", she answers.

"Thank you, Seran!", I hug here abruptly, grab Sestra, and I rush off to the back.

In the cart, I showed how to use her weapons. When she was able to get a hang of it, I let her go to her room to rest. As I was about to leave I spot a whip, and a thick wooden target. In no time I pull the whip out and break the target, just to see if I could still do it.

I look around for a scythe, which was the first weapon I had ever used in my life. Besides an axe, but I just used axes to cut down a tree. I cut targets with the scythe, leaving no target untouched. I go to iron claws, which are just metallic shackles that have long iron blades coming from them. I use them to finish the rest of the cut up targets. I spend more time in the back cart practicing, having fun with the weapons. I eventually look at the clock and see that it's 11 at night. I walk back to the main cart feeling accomplished. It's dark except for the lit up screen of a television. It's the re-run of the reapings in all the Districts. Right now it's just Caesar Flickerman talking about something Capital related.

Akiliya and Seran walk in from nowhere and we start watching re-runs of the reapings in other districts. It begins with District 1. Richest Wave and Crimson War. Wait I know them they're also Elites like me. District 2, Excaliber Presence and Persia Ross. _They're Elites also_. Something was definately weird. I saw the tributes continue Districts 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12. They were all Elites.

Except for Sestra, and the boy from District 11, all of them were Elites. I was scared just seeing all these people get chosen and I was glad that Sestra didn't see this. "How do you feel, Echo?", Akiliya asked knowing all the faces of the Elites.

"I feel like I'm about to have to kill 22 of my closest friends...", I say staring at the screen distantly.

Chapter 3

The announcer, Caeser Flickerman, interupted my train of thought. Seran turns it off, and tells me to go to bed "tomorrow is a really big, big, big day". I'm pretty sure that they were discussing our strategy since the old one about using my Elite status is a bust.

After my shower, I go to sleep to have a dream about all my elite friends, and especially which ones were going to fall at my hands or whip. I dream about my first day at the Elite training building at the Capital. Persia, tribute from district 2, helped me on the first Free-for-all battle, all for one and one for all in a pretend Arena. She and I teamed up when I caught her half dead of deadly poisons from a Noise Cracker. We went on to kill(knock out) 6 opponents.

It's followed by a dream of the day I met Jareda from District 4, she was amazing when it came to swinging her mace around. We met when we caught each other in our second Free-For-All. We met during a sunset at a cliff in a mountainous arena. The mace caught me offguard, I didn't expect it to come from such a beautiful girl like herself. We knocked each other out and we spent the day with each other when we were resting in the training building. I remember that at first she was mad at me for eliminating her from the game. Apparently she was trying to talk more to her District partner, she eventually told me she liked him. I told her I would make it up to her, and I was able to sneak us out of the training building, which apparently is hidden in a flower-filled plain. I can honestly say that if it wan't for her crush on Caston, I could have fallen in love with her. I guess we just weren't meant for each other.

They eventually became a couple. They lasted for about a month or two, and poof it was over. Once I had found this out, I thought I should've revisited my feelings for her, but those feelings weren't there anymore.

I woke up in a cold sweat after a nightmare of me killing Excalibar, one of the Elites I idolize. Excalibar reminds me of my own brother. Caston, from District 4, looks like my older brother, I remember the first time I saw him, I almost called out, "Arslo!", that's how much they look alike. I took a shower and went to breakfast and saw that Sestra, was looking out the window watching the scenery. It was mountainous and the train tracks went over a lake. I gave her a hug and told her, "Sestra, we're going to have to win the crowd over today, you understand that right?"

"I do!", she says hugging me back.

"We have to work together so you can win!", I say.

"I don't care if I win, you are more important than me, you have to win!"

"No! You have a lot more to live for...you have a little sister that depends on you to return, and your Father is more broken than anyone in District 7. He already lost your brother, and your Mom. That poor man doesn't deserve to lose another loved one in his life.", I tell her assertively, and she nods because she knows it's true. We start to pull into the station, I can see the crowds. I start to wave and blow kisses to them, some of them pretend to catch my kisses, and I look at Sestra to join me. She does, and she's more of a hit than I would I've thought.

I see that the other trains have pulled in and I see the tributes of all the other districts outside and I'm filled with happiness that I see all of them again since the last time we met which is about a months ago, but this time there is much more on the line. I run towards Persia and give her the biggest hug, while Sestra goes with Seran to her room.

"Persia!", I say cheering.

"Hey Jabberjay, How have you been!", she says with the same tone of voice I had.

"I'm good let's go say hi to others!", I say and we walk off to meet the tributes from Districts 11. Artimis and Jason. It turns out that Jason is Artimis' older brother, he told me that he came here to protect his little sister, and I understand why he would come.

I look around and see that Jareda from District 4 is here and she's talking to District 5's very own Issac and Derma. I look back and I see her holding hands with someone, her district partner, Caston. They're back together. I felt happy for them, and also a bit jealousy, I don't know why but I did. I disregard the feeling and keep myself in a good mood for when I talk to them right now. I walk up to Jareda, and greet them both. I hug her, and I tell Caston hello. The whole time they do not let go of each other's hand. "Echo, how have you been!", Jareda says.

"I've been great, and I can see you two are too!", I direct attention to their new relationship.

"Yeah, we are happy together. I'm happy that were happy together.", Caston says laughing. Jareda grabs Persia's hand and asks Caston for permission to go talk to someone. He allows it and turns to me. "So how have you been?", he puts his hands in his pocket. and he sounds a bit angry.

"Good, why so angry, Caston?", I ask him.

"Because I want you to stay away from Jareda.", he says in an angry hushed tone, while he grabs my wrist.

"What...why?", I say holding in the look of pain on my face.

"You know why. You like Jareda. You're the reason why we broke up in the first place.", he tightens his grip.

"What are you talking about, I don't know why you guys broke up in the first place."

"You dirty liar, I broke up with her because she cheated on me with you!"

"That's stupid. It's true I had feelings for her once but not anymore, I'm glad you guys are back together.", I say and he lets go. He's grip has strengthened since the last time I saw him.

"Sorry, I'm just really self-concious about her, since I heard you kissed her."

"On the cheek, but that was a long time ago.", he still looks suspicious. "Caston, I swear I wouldn't do anything to come in between you two, ever.", He turns back around, and I leave. I walk away and except that they are happy together, they want to remain that way, but they are in the worst place to be in love. In a fight to the death match where only one person can win. I feel depressed by the fact that not both of them could live, or I'm going to kill them.

I walk away and I pass by my own idol, Excalibar, He says hello, but I can feel so much sadness in me, I ignore him. As soon as I get to my room I start to scream my head off. I know that in this moment my anger towards the Capital. An hour later after releasing everything, I go to lunch and after I get to go get dressed for the presentation of the Tributes to the Capital. I get preped by my Prep Team, which is made up of a Andreas. A woman with purple-skin, pink teeth, and is wearing a smock covered in feathers. Harmonio, he looks like a snake with a forked tongue, and red dyed eyes, his smock is a lot more colorful, it kinda looks like the colors of a poisonous animal. Then last but not least, Calpurnia. She looks like an odd mix of the other two, she's a snake bird, with surgically implanted feathers, and redish-pink tattoos that make her look like she has scales.

They talk about upcoming social events with the rest of the other Prep teams that involves a lot of drama, or I think that's what it is. Something about someone having an affair with a married woman, and vice-versa, either way I tune them out. They are finally done and I head off to see my head designer/stylist.

Her apperance surprises me. She has surgically implanted whiskers, and other stuff to make her look like a cat, or a tiger. "Hello, I'm your head designer, Tigris.", she looks at me with her spotted eyes and says. This explains the extensive work to make her look like a "tiger". This is far beyong the Capital's beauty standard. This is what going over board in the Capital looks like.

"I'm the piece of meat you'll be designing today and for the rest of the next week, my name is Echo." I say to her as she laughs.

"You are District 7?", she asks and I nod, "Well, I have an idea of camouflage styling...what do you think?" I tell her my idea, she agrees and calls up Sestra's Stylist and they agree. I gave her my idea of anciet grecko-roman apperal, like I've read of in books about Ancient Greece. We also get to use a wreath of leaves. The plan goes that I represent the fall, with brown, orange, and a couple of green leaves. Sestra's representing spring, she'll have flowers and bright green leaves in her hair. She's going to have her hair dyed bright green and mines going to be red with yellow highlights.

While Tigris, was putting the clothes on me, I start to talk to her, "I'm sorry that I shot down your camouflague idea."

"Don't worry about it, It wasn't even my idea, why else would I ask you what you thought if I liked it. Honestly it was hideous, and I know that you Elites are also trained to know what would go together!", she laughs, and as it fades out, it turns into a purr. She finished in an hour or so, and we still have time.

"Tigris, this is better than I would've ever imagined!", I cheer. It looks like a humanly shaped tree. The drape I wear is brown, and the my hair is filled with orange autumn leaves, just for District 7, lumber. Each district has to be dressed to match what their district is leading supplier on. It shows me off more than I thought it would, it makes me look gorgeous, this is for sure to get me some sponsers.

"Oh, It's my pleasure Echo, but you can't go out there without the finishing touch.", she ties my mockingjay necklace around my neck and she blows some dirt off of it. "Now you might want to go to your platform you can socialize with the other tributes while you wait."

"Thank you again, Tigris!", I say when I hug her.

"Your welcome now let me take care of some things and I'll be in the stands watching, and remember when they announce your district untie your hair from right here.", she points it out and she sends me on my way. I feel and it's a well hidden ribbon that holds up some of the fake hair up. She says that it'll be a secret for now. When I do untie it, and if I really want to know what it is, I have to look at the screen where we will be shown. I make my way out of the room and straight into the backstage area where we will wait to be taken out and presented.

Chapter 4

I walk to my Chariot and I see that I'm the only one here except for District 2. I walk over to see that Excalibar's sitting down reading a magazine. "Oh, hey Jabberjay," he says while he puts the magazine down, "I haven't seen you in a long time, how have you been?" he stood up, and I noticed his costume. He looked like an over-exposed Peacekeeper, since he's from District 2, even though they are masonry, they're the district that supplies every district with Peacekeepers. He was just as exposed as me, and it makes me feel a little less self-concious since he seems to walk around like if he usually wears this amount of clothes.

"Oh, I've been good, and you?", I answer him.

"Wonderful, although, I think you're lying."

"What do you mean, I'm perfectly fine!", I burst out.

"I saw the despair in your eyes, and the blue feeling in your face when I passed by you. Just tell me what's wrong, Jabberjay.", he points out.

"Please! Stop calling me 'Jabberjay'!", I try to change the subject.

"Fine, Echo! Just tell me what's eating you? I'll understand if you want to keep it a secret, and if you still tell me, then I'll keep it on the down low. Just tell me.", Excalibar says, and I have to tell someone.

"Fine! I don't feel right about this Hunger Game with all the Elites. We've practiced this before, but never a real one. I need to protect my friend Sestra, so she can go home, but I also don't want to kill anyone. I know all of you guys, and your styles of fighting, and I know that I won't be able to go into this arena without having to kill one or two."

"Calm down, I won't tell anybody. Don't worry, I understand, I don't want to kill any one of you guys, either, but I have someone to go home to now. Her name is Carmenella. She's about your age. She's the best, there is no girl who can beat her." He goes on to tell of his District 2 love named Carmenella. That as soon as both their names are taken out of the reaping, he's going to marry her. I am really happy for him, I see him like an older brother, when my own isn't there, so that's why I look up to Excalibar, even though we rarely talk at all. I know that we think a lot alike, but sometimes we could be sitting next to each other, yet be a million miles apart. I hope he wins, I mean if I fail to protect Sestra and she dies, then I don't want to return home. I would probably form an allience and then when it's down to Excalibar and I, I will take myself out of the game, so he could continue on with his wedding.

More people start to arrive and I talk to District 3 tributes, Nessa and Darwin. They are some of the smartest people I know since they are from the technology district.

"Hello, Echo! How are you! It's been so long, and I would express to you my feeling of excitement to see you again, but I won't. If we were some place else, I would, but as soon as we're in the training ground we are enemies. I'm sorry, Echo!", Nessa says.

"It's okay, Nessa. As long as I know we were friends before the training.", I say and she nods. I leave them and find Sestra.

I walk over to her and she is talking to Nathine and Caitlyn, from district 6. They are both dressed like a mechanical mix of human and vehicles. The crowd starts to cheer so we are about to start. They start off with District 1-12, so we have time. "District 1!", Caesar Flickerman says. Crimson and Richest look like medieval King and Queen. "District 2!", Excalibar is trying to pump up the crowd while Persia sits down filing her nails, not caring at all. It gets the crowd to cheer more so they can get Persia's attention.

"Hey, when we're on the platform and they put the spotlight on us that's when we untie our hair.", Sestra reminds me.

"Okay.", I say, already knowing.

"My designer said that he and your designer have agreed on it."

"District 6", the announcer cheers out as well with the crowd, while District 6 is shown off. Sestra and I run onto the chariot's platform and wait to be called out, and we hold on to each other. I feel the spotlight hits us, and before Clauduis Templesmith announces us, the crowd goes wild, and then he announces us, we look out and release the tied hair and from our hair hangs glimmering extensions that reflects all the colors of our hair, and the crowd practically explodes with applause. I can see us on the monitor taking our poses and I make sure to wink and wave at people in the crowd.

I have another flashback to the day my two friends were being presented. They both looked ridiculus in big tree costumes. If they weren't in that situation they would've laughed about it, like we usually did. Every year District 7's tributes have to be dressed like trees, it's really irratating. I remember both of them hudling together, they were both scared, I can only imagine what they were thinking when they saw each other on the screen. I remember the pain of seeing them on the chariot, just like me.

I come back from my flashback and we're pulled in to the stage in front of the main building, and I watch everyone else pull in behind us. Out of everyone, I think we were the most popular. The President steps out, says his speech, the Panem anthem plays out, and we are taken back. I step off the chariot to be caught by Jareda. She looks beautiful in her mermaid costume. She was popular because of her relationship status with Caston. She told me how good I looked and that she would like to have an alliance with me when we are in the games. I told her I would think about it, but really I was going to deny her the first time I see her in the training center.

Sestra and I walk into the elevator, which is really weird for us because we never really see these back in the districts. We leave in order from 1-12. I hug everyone goodbye and that'll see them when we get the training center. When we exit the elevator Akiliya and Seran meet us at the door. They walk us to the dining room and we meet with Tigris, and Stone, Sestra's stylist, and we dine in the most biggest meal I've ever seen. Even though I'm an Elite, we don't get special treatment from anywhere, it just makes us a little bit more hated in the poorer districts in fact.

Compliments are thrown around the room, and Tigris calls attention to herself and says that the costumes were my idea, and everybody cheers. I throw back my praise saying that the hair, which was a main staple in our popularity, was the stylists idea and they should get even more praise then I. Then Stone says the hair thing was Sestra's idea, and she sits in the corner saying, "Oh stop it you!".

We all have a toast to congradulate all of ourselves, for our acting, and the stylist's styling. I enjoy the food, and for some reason this food tastes better just knowing that Sestra was going to live and go back home to her family.

If neither of us make it, I'd be fine with that. I can't return home, if Sestra died while I was protecting her. It would only give me worse flashbacks. Just being in this arena will give me the worst flashbacks ever, because I know that I'm going to have to kill someone eventually, I just hope it isn't Sestra.

Early in the morning, and I sneak out undetected from the room into the dining hall and I find that Akiliya was already sipping tea, and watching re-runs of the presentation. "Oh, Hello, Echo, where are you going without breakfast?" she asks.

I grab a plate and answer, "Nowhere, especially with this fine cuisine." I load on my plate yet have the decency to grab one napkin with a bread roll hidden inside it, for later. I gorge myself because Seran isn't around.

Akiliya asks me again. I pretend to have to much food in my mouth to answer. When she asks again I answer, "I was going up to the roof to see the sunrise."

"Echo, why do you want to see the sunrise?", she asks.

"Akiliya, you of all people should know why I want to see it.", she looks at me confused, "Since my name was called out in the reaping I've learned to appreciate smaller things, and the sunrise is something small. I've been watching it a lot lately. It reminds me that I might not see beautiful things anymore. It also reminds me of me. It's as bright as my own hope to survive these games, or to at least save Sestra and die doing it.", she looks me in the eyes and says I'm free to go.

Chapter 5

I walk into the elevator and I travel up to the top, and I see a edge where I can sit. I sit down and I notice I'm not alone. I turn to the greenhouse and I see movement from inside, I go in and ask, "Is anybody in here?", no answer, I turn around and I hear a pot fall and shatter. I turn around to see that it was Derma from District 5. Poor thing stares at me like if she was a deer standing in front of a train.

"Hi, Derma.", I say, "Come on and join me. I was about to watch the sunrise. I walk over to the ledge and sit down and I see sunrays shoot up from the horizon. I notice that Derma, without making any noise, already made her way over to my side and looked down really scared. "Derma, It's okay, if you fall you bounce right back, remember how strong the forcefields are.". It seems to calm her down. I pull out the napkin I hid and I take the bread roll from it, and hand it to her.

She takes it and eats to her hearts content, "Thank you, Echo!", she says happily.

"No problem," a comfortable silence takes over and I continue, "Isn't it beautiful, Derma, the sunset. How much it shines. It's hard to believe to another planet our sun is just a distant star?" She nods wispfully. "I continue on looking at this momentues glory and makes me think that I'm never going to see it after next week.", I say and let the sunlight get soaked into my skin.

"Echo, what do you mean that after next week you'll never see it again, don't you plan on winning?", she finally says.

I nod and say, "No, not one bit, I couldn't live in a world where I had to kill my friends, besides I'm gonna live up until Sestra is the winner, and then I can close my eyes, take in my last breath, and just slip away.", I finish and she looks at me sadly. "What's the matter, Derma?".

"I can't live in a world like this either, but I know that I have to get back to my mom, I'm practically all she has. Don't you think it's selfish for someone to sacrifice themselves for someone else. I mean you have family that wants you to get back home."

"That's right, Derma, but my family has everything they need, they won't miss me as much as Sestra's dad is gonna miss her. She's all he has too."

"But it's still wrong, we still want to see you again, we don't want you to die in the arena. We love you, and it's your responsibility to live. I'm planning to survive the three days with Nathine, you and Sestra can join us."

"Derma what are you talking about we're going into a fight to the death where only...", she looks at me and her eyes are filled with honest innocence. She really doesn't know that only one of us is going too survive. She must think this is just another free-for-all, where many people can win as long as they pass the three-day criteria. I find that I should explain to her what's really going on. "Derma, do you know how the Hunger Games work?"

"Yes, they give us three days, and everyone who makes it the end of the last day wins. That's why I made a plan, that if we..."

"Derma, that's a free-for-all, this is the Hunger Games. These two things are different. In the free-for-alls we don't get hurt, but here, we can die."

"No, I know, but my plan is for everyone to drop their weapons and be at a stand-still until the last day is done. That way we can all go home."

"Derma! That's not how it works. There isn't a time limit here, we die when we die!", I yell and her eyes get bigger. "There is only one winner out of 24. They would never allow more than one person to win. If we don't kill each other, then they will. I would rather you all fall at my hands, than to a bunch of evil Capital people who pitted us against each other in the first place."

I look at her and she's scared, and she's about to cry. She is to innocent to be thrown into an arena with all her friends. She didn't even know that only one of us can live. I close my eyes and I continue, "Derma, I'm sorry. I thought you had the right to know."

"No, you're right, Echo. I have to stop being so naive. I knew how this worked, but I was just hoping it was just a game. That as soon as we're in the Arena, Psy's(our Elite trainer) voice came on and told us that we just have to complete the three day free-for-all."

"Just a game...", I think about it. "I know a song named 'Just a Game'. Don't worry Derma, if things go wrong, then I'll make things right, and then you'll have more of a chance of winning then me. Just be thankful for all the days you have with Nathine." I open my eyes and I look to find that Derma is gone. Someone who could be that quite even when she's really close, will be a worthy adversery to me. I go back to the the 7th floor, take a shower, and I get dressed and ready for the training.

When Sestra and I get down to the training floor, the instructor tells us the rules and sends us to training. The problem is that Sestra's trying everything she hasn't been taught and she's making herself look like prey to everyone else. "Sestra, what are you doing? Keep it up and you'll be the first one to go down in the games."

"Sorry, I just wanted to see if I could do all these other things.", she whispers to me.

"Well stop it, show them that you're not completely weak, there are axes over in that station, show them what you've got.", She walks over to the station, with everyone's eyes on her she picks up an two axes. She throws it and it gets the rubber dummie, in the neck nearly severing it off the fake body. Now she has everyone's attention. She moves on to the other stations and I start to pay attention to others.

Crimson and Richest are sword fighting and both of them are really good. Excalibar is hitting moving targets left and right by throwing knives. Persia and Derma are doing the same with arrows. Nathine is piercing fake bodies with spears. Caston and Jareda are learning how to camouflague. They both play around and paint each other, laughing and giggling. I already know their strengths though. Jareda's got her mace, and Caston can use a pair of iron claws to polverise wooden targets into tooth picks.

Darwin and Nessa are sticking together with traps. Depending on the arena, Darwin can turn a normal wire, into an electrical trap. I remember he taught me how when we were in our second free-for-all. Issac is tossing 100 pound weights around like nothing. I look over to see Artimis is using poison darts and Jason is using a barrier shield. A gigantic shield that could be used to crush things and to protect yourself. Then I notice that people are still waiting for me to do something so I look on the weapons wall, for my weapon of chose, a bullwhip. It's exterior was leather, but the inside was flexible steel, strong enough to make marks in boulders. I pick it up and I walk over to a target station. I crack it once and destroy one, crack it again and make a slash mark across a tree they have for climbing, and everyone looks in awe. We all have something special, but nobody has ever seen my full potentiel with a whip.

Days go by and I figure out that Juno, Urwin, and Jenten are really good trappers. Caitlyn doesn't seem to do anything, but I've seen her throw knives before, so I know not to take her for granted. The day to work for our final scores is finally here. We perform in front of the gamemakers, and get scored from one to twelve. The higher the number the more likely you are to succeed, but it also makes you a target in the arena.

Excalibar comes out looking accomplished which worries me. It came for Sestra's turn and she told me she was going to try to impress them with the axes. When she was done she hurried to the elevator without even a glance toward me. I walk in to the main room where all the gamemakers sit and watch. "State your name, age, and continue with whatever your going to do.", the head gamemaker asks.

"Echo Ivy, 16, and I will need targets for whipping.", I say to them. He presses a button and targets pop up from out of nowhere. I pull the whip quickly from the rack. I crack the whip one way break a target and use it to destroy another one. I whip it everywhere and I can hear wood being destroyed. I felt that I was getting a good score, until I was disrupted by the gamemaker's "thank you", and a little bit of applause. I walk out, and I go back to the room and I await my score.

I pass by all the following District tributes, and I wish them good luck. I walk to the elevator, but I'm stopped by District 12's tributes, Juno and Jenten. "How'd you do in there!", Juno asks me.

"It went good. I think."

"Don't worry, you'll probably get a higher score than us.", Jenten laughs.

"Thanks you two, but I should be getting back, bye. Break a leg!", I say as I walk away from them. Once inside I press the button four on accident. I press seven right after so I don't have to make the stop at District 4's floor, but the elevator sends me there anyways. At the door for District 4, stands Jareda and her District 4 mentor, Mags. Jareda waves me in, but I deny. The elevator door doesn't close quick enough so she pulls me in.

"Echo, meet my District mentor, Mags. Mags this is Echo, from District 7."

"Hello.", I say to her, she returns the greeting and leaves. Mags looks like she's been in a lot of traumatic situations. I remember Jareda told me about her though. She was a powerful swimmer, and can make a fish hook out of anything. I 'm not sure which year she won, I think it was the 7th or the 13th annual Hunger Game.

"How'd you do?", Jareda turns to me and says.

"I'm not sure, I'm hoping I did good."

"I know I did great. You wanna know what I did?", she says. We're not supposed to know what the others did, due to the fact that that would be an unfair advantage but I already know wht her skill was. Before I can answer she tells me, "I did sword play!"

"Oh, that's new."

"I know, what did you do?"

"I used the whip like I usually do. Of course I'm going to need the whip in the arena. Hopefully, they give me a strong resiliant one."

"Well, of course, you wouldn't want to disappoint your ex-girlfriend.", she laughs. We talk a bit more, and after I decide to leave. I finally get to my floor, and release the breathe I've been holding in since I got into the elevator on the fourth floor.

Later that night, we all gathered in the Television room, and we anticipated the scores for District 7. It came on starting with Sestra's score. "Sestra Celenova...9", the announcer, Claudius Templesmith, says. I was so relieved because that meant I didn't have to kill her. Then came mine "Echo Ivy...11".

Chapter 6

I could not believe I got an eleven. I usually get an 8 or 7 when our Elite Leaders scores us in our free-for-all training. Except for Trenton from District 8, and Crimson from District 1, I was the only one who got an 11. The smallest score came from Clydessa from District 9, she got a score of 5. Persia, Excalibar, Alex(9), Kessie(10), Nathine, and Caitlyn got 10. The boy tribute from District 1, Richest, got 8. Artimis got 8 while her brother, Jason, got 9. Everyone else got a score of 6-10.

The room was filled with cheers, everyone comemerated Sestra and I for our scores. Now is where it gets a little bit more difficult. We have to find out what our strategy is, and then we have to ace our interviews with Ceaser Flickerman in front of all Panem so we can get sponsers. "We'll tomorrow is going to be really big, in winning the games, so we'll have to take night hours to talk about the strategy." Akiliya gets my attention and answers my question of when we were going to strategize before I even asked it.

"Well, can I go leave my district token in my room first?", Akiliya nods and Sestra is on her way. Her district token isn't like mine, it's something her father made her in his carpentry shop back in District 7. When she returns we continue our meeting. "Okay, so number one thing is to find a resource to sustain you for the rest of the games. We don't know what type of field they are going to give you so you have to be careful with everything. Remember don't step off your plate until the gong rings out."

"Or what?" Sestra interupts Akiliya.

"Or you'll get blown into itty bitty pieces!", she answers quickly. She continues "Water is a main thing, do either of you know how to hunt?", she asks and both our hands go up. "Well, make sure, when you run for the Cornucopia, to grab a knife, your weapon of choice, and a supplies backpack.", she says ending our meeting, and sends us off to bed. "Remember tomorrow, is where we will train you seperately for the interview, so get some sleep and be prepared for tomorrow."

I walk Sestra to her room and hug her goodnight, but it could also possibly be goodbye, because two days from now well be running in arena trying to survive. In my room I do last minute showering and prepping, so the prep team wouldn't be so troubled. I go to sleep and have a dream where Persia and I are allies again in the first free-for-all.

"You think you're going to like being a war leader?", she asks with her arrow positioned to kill a rabbit for our lunch.

"I'm not sure how I feel about it, and you? What do you think?", I ask her.

"I honestly don't love it, my whole life I hated the Capital for sending my sister into the games. She died on the first day in a fight near the cornucopia."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be, it's the Capital's fault, not yours.", she shoots the arrow and gets the rabbit clean through the eyes.

"Do you ever feel like they chose us to be Elites for a reason, Persia?", I asked her.

"I kind of do, I think almost everyone here has lost someone they loved to the games."

"That's possibly true, but I don't get why they didn't chose my brother to come. He lost five of his friends in the games. I lost my two closest friends to the most recent one though."

"Well, I'm glad they didn't chose your brother. The way you describe him he sounds like a real jerk. If they had chosen him, then I would've never met anyone as smart as you, or as ticklish as you!", she says poking my stomach and laughing. That was the day I knew I could always depend on Persia.

Akiliya wakes me up, and tells me to go with Tigris so I could get dressed and then get ettiqute training. I walk into the room and get rushed by my Prep team. They are so weak minded it's laughable. I wonder if it has ever crossed their pea-sized minds that they are just dressing me so I can get killed. I hear them talking about me being Tigris' last tribute to adorn. "You know that, you are the last person to get worked on by Tigris?" Harmonio asks me.

"No, I didn't, why, is she getting fired...or quitting?", I repeat the thought in my head.

"She's getting fired.", Andreas said.

"Why?", I say sadly. Out of everyone I've meet here in the Capital, Tigris seemed like the only logical, kind-hearted person. "Does she go overboard with costumes when she's not supposed to?"

"No, It's because she's getting...old, President Snow said that everyone has to be young and beautiful to represent how beautiful the tributes are, or something like that.", Calpurnia answers.

"How old is she?"

"She's thirty-five!", Andreas exclaims, and Calpurnia gasps. Only in the Capital can you get fired for being thirty-five.

"If we get fired at thirty-five, then I've only got two years left!", Calpurnia says, and decide to complement her.

"Really, you don't look a day over twenty-two!", I say. This makes her blush and Harmonio laughs.

"Yeah she doesn't look a day over twenty-two...thousand!", he laughs and so do I. Once they're done with the prepping I get up off the table and I thank them for everything and I say I hope to see them in the distant future. As I'm about to walk out the door, Harmonio stops me. "Here give this to Tigris,", he hands me a card, "we don't have the heart to give it to her in person...and good luck out there kid!"

"Thank you!", I say as some of them shed a tear. I hug them all to show them I don't hate them(entirely). I walk down the hall into Tigris' room. There she is with her face buried in her hands weeping.

"Tigris, I'm here." I say quietly. I put the card down on a table and we get started. She has a whole thing with my hair again, she start putting things in there. I'm dressed in a brown suit with a bright green shirt and vest. My hair is back to normal, but she said that she concealed some glimmering stuff in there so I have to shake it a little.

I'm about ready to leave, but I remember the card. I take it off the table and hand it to her. She opens it and I could see her spotted eyes go left to right, and she starts to cry again. I give her big hug and tell her that she has done well over the years, and that she has done her job well today because the District 7 tributes are going to win. She calms down and starts "Echo, you are one of the best tributes I have ever had the honor to work with. Good luck out there, Echo, and don't forget to shake your hair!"

I walk out and everyone is in their seats already, we are about to begin the interviews. Caesar Flickerman steps out and the crowd cheers. I've been in front of a crowd this big only once. When all the Elites were to protect the winner of the Hunger Games three years ago, but this time we have to talk. He goes on with a couple of jokes to warm up the crowd. Then he tells us that girls first and then boys, and in order of our districts.

Crimson goes up first, her gold dress shines in the spotlight. She has a whole competion with Caeser about whose hair is softer. Richest goes up and he's so nervous he barely talks, but he does tell everybody what he's going to be trying to get as soon as he's in the arena. A pair of iron claws is his choice. Persia goes up and the silver black dress does wonders for her. Caeser asks, "So, a pretty young girl like you must have a boyfriend, am I right?", the crowd goes balistic at this question.

She answers, "Yes, I do, he is from District 2. His name is Morson, and I'm going to win this to go home and see him!", the crowd awes for a moment, and Persia and I have locked in eyes, I can tell that she's doing this so she can get people on her side. This "Morson" probably doesn't even exist. I've known her long enough to expect this from her. Excalibar is next and he tells the story of his future fiancee, Carmenella. He gets a little bit more people on his side. District 3 interviews blow past, and then Caeser announces District 4, and this one is a suprise to me.

"Okay, now moving on to District 4, but can I have them both come up here!", Caeser says and Jareda and Caston both walk up hand in hand. "You two are an item, am I right!", he asks and they nod. "How long have you two been together?"

"11 months!", answers Caston.

"Actually, we've been together for 1 month, but we've had feelings for each other long before!", Jareda points out.

"That's adorable! Caston here includes the months you weren't even together!", Caeser cheers. The crowd is hooked. Now it's my job to get these people on to my side right after them. "Well, going into a game where only one can come out alive what is your strategy?"

"We aren't entirely sure, I know that I want her to win.", Caston says.

"And I want him to win!", Jareda says ready to cry.

"I'm gonna get the iron claws to protect Jareda from any attacker."

"And I'm going to get my mace and bury it in anyone who tries to touch him.", she says making it sound like a warning. She was never really good at threats. I laugh a little louder than I thought I would've and they turn to look at me. The rest of the tributes turn and also smile a bit.

"Well, I wish you both the best of luck...", Caesar says. "Ladies and Gentlemen the tributes of District 4, Caston Segwada and Jareda Asleen!" the crowd cheers.

Everyone goes by quick, then it's Sestra's turn. "Sestra Celenova, come on up!" Caesar yells out with joy. "Sestra, how are you doing?"

"I'm fine and you?", she answers sweetly. The green short dress she's wearing is shining in the limelight she's in right now.

"Good, good, so you volunteered when they called out your friend's name in the reaping?"

"Yes I did, I came on my own because I owe Echo one, so while I'm here I'm going to protect him.", she says with a lot of confidence in her voice. They go on a small banter and he finally comes to the final question.

"And what's your strategy going into the games?"

"I plan on getting my hands on axes, getting Echo out of the bloody Cornucopia fight, and letting the other Tributes eliminate each other in order to protect Echo."

"Well your times up, so I wish you the best of luck, and I hope you succeed, Ladies and Gentlemen, Sestra Celenova!", crowd cheers and then pause and I hear my name. "Echo Ivy, you're next!"

Chapter 7

I put on my best smile and climb up the steps. "Hello, Nature!", he says mocking me, for the costume on the first day.

"Hello Annoncer man!", I joke around, and I get the crowd to laugh. I don't really understand why, but I take it as a win.

"Oh, well that was an astonishing splash you made during the presentation last week!", they show me up on the monitor, and I have to smile.

"Yes, but I couldn't have done it without my stylist, Tigris!", She stands up in the crowd, and takes a bow while a couple of people clap. I'm not kidding at least one couple clapped. I shake my hair because I remember that's what Tigris told me to do.

"Whoa! What was that?", Caesar cheered and clapped.

"What was what?", I say like I didn't know.

"Your hair just glimmered! Shake your hair again!", he cheered me on.

_Hookline and sinker_, I thought, "Okay!", I shook my hair and the crowd went crazy with excitment, and I could hear my name being hollered out. I stood up and made sure everyone in the stands surrounding us got some, including the tributes. Once I look down I can see that different colored petals are falling out of my hair. I could hear people whistling, and shouting, and just have a heart attack of fun. I would do more but I felt dizzy.

"Wow, was that Tigris' idea?"

"Yes it was!"

"Wow, Tigris, take a a bow!", she does, and this time everyone cheers, and I see that she wipes a tear off her face. "Now on to more important matters!", he calms down the audience, "What is your strategy?"

"I can honestly say it's to stay alive, until the final two, where I will sacrifice myself to send that girl home!" I say pointing at Sestra.

"Ah, I see the both of you are allies from the beginning."

"Yes, we are, she's like my little sister, and she has so much riding up on this game."

"Like?"

"Well, personal things."

"I understand, what weapon are you going to use!"

"This might seem a little strange, but I am diving for a whip." I was correct, it did sound odd. The audience looks at each other, confused, so I decided to turn it into a joke. "Yeah, my ex-girlfriend says that I was really good when it came to the whip!" the crowd loses it and tears are streaming from every eye.

"Oh, my, well you are delightful! I hope you succeed in all your plans and may the odds be ever in your favor, now give the crowd what they want! Ladies and Gentlemen, Echo Ivy!", while he finishes his last line, I shake my hair vigorously, to release the petals all over. I step down and find that some people who worked to get people on their side have just lost them to me, hopefully no one shows me up...no one does.

The ceremony is soon over, and we are allowed to go back to our rooms, to get ready for tomorrow. I say good-bye for the last time to some people and we get to our room.

"Are you ready for tomorrow?", Sestra asks me.

"I am prepared, and you?", I question her.

"I feel ready to kill anyone who tries to hurt you, Echo."

"Sestra, I don't want you to try and protect me, these people are Elites like me, we're meant to be able to kill anyone."

"You've showed me enough and I already know what some of their weaknesses are, for example, Crimson can barely toss a spear because of her back problems."

"Sestra, we Elites are world renouned actors, we are trained for everything even tricking our opponents."

"I know you don't want me to get hurt or killed, but I owe you for when were younger. Remember when that gigantic tree almost killed me.", hearing her say these words take me back to that day.

I had just came back from the Elite choosing, and the training was done. Clair and I had came back, and I went straight to helping my dad with working on some trees. My dad's friend was helping him and he had his daughter, Sestra, there with him. She was only eleven, she wasn't working she was only messing around, and she had decided to take a rest where we cut down the trees. I heard a tree crack and I saw that the stupid idiot was still under the tree. I tossed everything aside and ran to her. She had just noticed the tree and was frozen with fear, when I pulled her off the ground and tossed myself over her and we fell a foot away from where the tree landed.

Ever since that day she has been my shadow. I taught her some things I knew. She learned how to survive, and now she wants to repay me the favor. "There is one, big difference between then and now!" I shout at her, "Back then I lived when I saved you, and in order for you to save my life I have to win and you have to lose. Losing means death!" I yell out at her. Before she could respond Akiliya and Seran came in to say their good-byes.

"I want you two to know that it has been an honor to escort you both." Seran said with a sad tone, but she's still part of the Capital, so she insults us right after, "Don't die, if you two die, then I'm demoted to another District like 12, eeww!"

"We love you too, Seran." Sestra says. Seran nods and leaves us with a smile. Akiliya says good-bye to us as well.

"You two might do your last minute prepping tonight. Remember that you two have to conceal yourselves. Pack, hunting gear, weapon, and water. I'll be watching and getting you things from your sponsers. Good luck you two!", Akiliya gives Sestra and I a hug, and before she leaves salutes me.

"Sestra will see you right after the games are done." I say because she's the one who will win. Sestra ignores me, and hugs her back and leaves to her room.

I walk off to my room, and there I take off the glimmering hair extensions. I take a shower, and pull out a tray of almonds from my draw and eat to sleep. I have another nightmare, where I suffocate Sestra and win. It's followed by the dream of when I met Excalibar. We were in the middle of our third free-for all battle. He just popped out of the water where I was fishing. The Arena was lake surrounded by forestry.

"Hey, you're not Crimson!", he acted surprise.

"Yeah, I've noticed!", I was still surprised and scared he'd knock me out.

"You're funny! I haven't seen you around the grape vine, what's your name again?"

"I'm Echo, and you're Excalibar!", I just realized who he was.

"I'm also really wet, come on in and join me!", he grabs my hand and pulls me in, and he starts to laugh.

"Ah, I don't...know...how to swim!", I shouted and kicked around. I remember hitting the bottom of the shallow water and seeing him coming down to save me. He could of knocked me out, but instead he saved me from drowning. We later formed an alliance and I ended up winning.

The next morning I wake up and see that the outfit that I'm going to wear. It was just normal clothes with special properties. The shirt was supposed to change tempurature according to the weather. The sweater was to keep in heat, well more than a usual one would. I put it down and I leave to a room where a hovercraft awaits all the tributes. I grab on to the ladder to be lifted up, but a shock freezes me and I can't move. A Peacekeeper puts a needle into me, and I ask him what it's for. He tells me that it's my tracker. I'm lifted in and I'm strapped in with everyone inside. I stay quite, because I know that if I talk it'll be harder to kill these people, my friends.

We arrive to a base and we are sent to our launch room, where we await to be sent into the arena. I go inside the room and I see that Tigris is there. She holds out her hands for a hug and I oblige her.

"Hey, you forgot something in the prep room." She holds out my mockingjay necklace.

"Thank you, Tigris!" I was relieved that she had found it for me. She puts it around my neck, and then a loud booming voice sounds, "60...59...", the countdown has just started.

"You better get on the platform quick!" Tigris says, and I follow her directions and when I get on it a glass tube surrounds me. "Good luck, Kid! Make me proud!", she says before I'm launched off. I rise to the top and I see all the other tributes.

Our platforms is in the middle of a meadow. I can see that the trees and mountains surrounds us. I see the golden cornucopia down in the middle. The meadow decents inword toward it. I look around I see that Sestra is a couple people away from me. I turn to look for Persia, and then I hear an explosion.

Chapter 8

I turn around and I see that Sestra's wooden ball, her district token, has landed a couple feet away from my platform. I look at Sestra to see if she threw it. She was gone. Then I realize that the explosion came from her platform. I hear the people next to her shriek out. I could see that something was splattered all over the floor. "NO!" I yell out. I fall to my knees on the platform. I see that the wooden ball was scorched.

"10...9...8...", the booming voice announces. I hear Persia shouting out for me to get up. I didn't know what to do. I get up and my face is filled with tears. Sestra was dead. "Let the 55th annual Hunger Games begin!" and a large ring is announced, and I start to run the decent into the Cornicopia. I make it into the inside of it where I grab a bag of axes, whip, and a pack. When I turn around I see Richest coming at me with the iron claws he wanted. I grab an axe instantly and throw it, I see him stop straightaway and he falls to the ground with in axe in his head. I run, pull the axe out of him, and run up the incline.

Halfway up I see that Clydessa is in front of me with an arrow drawn and pointed at my skull. I stop and I see a knife fly pass my head and get her in the eye. She fires it, and I drop to the ground to avoid it. The arrow bulleted passed me and gets Caitlyn, who threw the knife at her in the first place, in the eye. The phrase "an eye for an eye" has never rung so true.

I'm on the floor when Derma darted and tripped over me. We lock eyes and she hurries to get up and darts into the forest with a pack. I get up and run and a barrage of knives flies towards me, all thrown by Juno from District 12. She chases me into the forest where I hide in a bush. She stops because she knows it's better to go back to the clearing rather to take me on, the boy who scored an eleven, the boy from District 7 where they specialize in forests.

I see her turn around only to get a sword lodged in her and go through her completely. I see that it was Darwin from District 3. Behind him comes Issac, from District 5, and he breaks Darwin's neck with his enourmous hands. He kneels down near Juno's body and he picks up her head. She isn't dead, yet. She speaks, "Issac, I love you!" she coughs, with blood filling her mouth.

"I love you too, Juno!" he crys out, he could barely be heard from all the tears. I couldn't bear to see my friend like this. Juno's head turns lifelessly and her eyes lock on to where I am. There is no more life in them. Issac puts her head down, and closes her eyes. I couldn't bear it. I sneak out and walked behind him quietly, and I throw an axe. I close my eyes and I hear a loud thump. I turn around and I see that Lilia from District 8, saw the whole thing. I expect an arrow or a spear from her, but she just nods at me and she dashes into the forest.

I get the axe from Issac's head, and I speed off into the forest. I find a clearing, and a tree with a hole in the base big enough for me to slip into. I crawl in and I sit with my knees to my chest. I take in all of what just happened. I killed two of my friends, and led four others into their doom.

My sobs seem loud to me, but no one finds me so I'm fine. "Sestra...how...why?", I crying under my breath. She's dead. How could this happen, we warned her about the landmines. I'm crying more, and if I'm crying this much for Sestra, I can only imagine losing Persia. That would kill me.

Hours go by, and I see that Crimson comes into the clearing. She takes a wire out of her pack, and she climbs the tree in no time. She comes back down and I realize she just set a trap. She put a bag of apples in the middle. I see her sneak over to the side and kneel down.

I crawl out the hole, quickly and undetected. I get up and bullet for the bag and she runs straight into the clearing. I grab the bag of apples and run further into the forest. I find a dirt path, and start to run it, and she runs right behind me. I've known Crimson for a long time, and I know that she can run for miles, and she won't stop until she catches her taget, which right now, is me. I could tell she was mad because the trap didn't work on me, and I took her 5 apples. I hear a crack, a familiar one, so I slow down enough to see a tree fall in front of me. My Elite training kicked in, and I jump over it, landing with enough momentum to keep running. I've seen Crimson train, and she's one person who couldn't do a perfect jumps like Artimis, from District 11, Lilia, from District 8, and I could. She comes to a quick hault, and falls over the fallen log.

After an hour of running I slow down and decide that no one else is chasing me. I walk straight into a patch of shorter trees that are familiar to me. I also notice a certain type of moss that only grows near water. I hear 10 cannons fire. Each cannon represents each tribute that has died. It has started to get a little less brighter so I campout in a higher tree. I find a fork in the high branches and set up. I see a little opening in the leaves where I have perfect view of the sunset.

I open my pack and pull out the sleeping bag. I also find a bag of jerky, dried fruits and berries, a pair of sunglasses, bandages, rubbing alcohol, water, and matches. I get ready to go to sleep so I close my eyes. I take in everything again. All those dead faces, Crimson, my friend, angry at me and trying to kill me now. I see the Capital seal appear in the sky and I see the faces of the deceased once again. It starts in order.

_**District 1: Richest Wave**_

_**District 3: Darwin Bolt**_

_**District 3: Nessa Wire**_

_**District 5: Issac Stroid**_

_**District 6: Caitlyn Calliton**_

_**District 7: Sestra Celenova**_

_**District 9: Clydessa Dardez**_

_**District 9: Alex Zecko**_

_**District 12: Jenten Mao**_

_**District 12: Juno Badge**_

I wake up the next morning, and I crawl back down I go looking for a river, but instead I find a tiny stream. I go up the current and find a big lake. I look around to see if anyone was around. I see that across from me, my friend Kessie Firstina, from District 10 is drinking water near the lakes edge. I would call her over but I don't know if she's dangerous, or if someone is around to kill me as soon as I call her.

From behind her I see bushes rustling. I see that she notices, and she starts to run. I see four people run out of the bushes and chase her down. I couldn't help it, I have to help Kessie, she was my friend, and they were about to kill her. I see that her assailants are Caston and Jareda, Nathine, and Derma. They all have daggers in their hands and they playing with Kessie. They surround her and each take a turn cutting her. I stop running because of they see me they'll do the same. I see that Kessie tries to make another escape. This time Derma, being as quick as she is, jumps on her and takes Nathine's spear and impales her. "Stop it, NO!", I yell out on accident. Kessie's cannon fires.

Chapter 9

I see that they've spotted me, I turn to run, and I can hear them shouting out "Get him, quick!". I keep running into the forest, and soon enough they stop, and I've lost them. I find a nice big tree and I climb it. At the top, I find a fork of branches, and I sit down.

I take a sip of the water I have and I eat an apple. It starts to get dark. I doze off a little, and when I wake up I see someone in front of me. I take an axe and my hand gets stopped by someone else. _This is it, I lost the games, I'm never going to fulfill Sestra's wish of me winning._ The person behind me puts the sunglasses on me and covers my mouth. The sunglasses let me see better in the dark. I see that the person in front of me is Artimis, and the person covering my mouth is Jason.

"Quiet." Artimis whispers and points down. I see that it's Caston and his alliance are walking under us. They are talking about Kessie. "Oh please don't kill me!" Nathine mocks Kessie's begging.

"Please, I could help you find Echo quicker! Just don't kill me!" Derma follows, "She was so pathetic!" she laughs right after. I feel the immense pressure of throwing an axe in her head, but Jason sensed this and he gripped my hand harder.

They soon pass and Jason releases me. "Artimis, Jason, what are you guys doing?" I whisper.

"Well we were walking when we saw their torch so we climbed up the tree and found you here." Artimis says.

"You were about to kill Artimis, so I had to stop you, and sorry about covering your mouth, I just didn't want you to blow our cover." Jason says.

"Oh that's understandable, but I thought you guys were going to kill me, that's why I raised the axe." I explain.

"It's okay we get it." Artimis says. "Sorry about Sestra."

"Yeah, if my sister was stupid enough to blow herself up I would go crazy to." Jason laughs, strangely, I don't find this funny.

"Jason!" Artimis hushes him, "I told you already she didn't blow herself up!"

"What do you mean she didn't blow herself up?" I said.

"I saw the whole thing, Jareda told her to drop the ball, because it would've held her back from running, so she did and the rest is history." she reveals to me that Sestra's death wasn't an accident. All my feelings for Jareda were gone as soon as she finished telling me this. I wanted to get her in the head with an axe.

"I'm going to chop her head off."

"Whoa, take a chill pill, it's to late we gotta get some sleep." Jason grabs my shoulder. The anthem plays and the Capital seal appears in the sky. One face appears tonight.

_**District 10: Kessie Firstina**_

The anthem plays out and the seal disappears. Jason and Artimis take a seperate fork then me and they fall asleep. I go to sleep right after them and I have a dream about Kessie. When it came to the training sessions in the Capital, we were always a team. She was the first person to even talk to me when we first arrived at the Capital. She was my first friend here. She might've planned to sell me out but I know she was scared, and she had to do anything to live. They way it sounds, they were looking for me.

I wake up early and I pack up and slowly crawl down the tree. I find Artimis on a branch near mine, and Jason is on another branch in another tree. I crawl up to Artimis and I leave an axe. I start to walk towards the big mountains that are really far away. I take a path that is covered in trees, there is no way someone can find me through here. Although I could be wrong. I constantly hear twigs snapping, but I think that It could just be the gamemakers trying to scare me. I walk for hours and I can see that some of the trees start to thin down. Trees start to turn into saplings and it soon turns into plain dirt on the floor. I hear something whizzing around in the air, and I can feel fear building up in me.

I start to slow down and I come to a stop so I can rest. I scan the area I'm in but I highly doubt that anyone will find me here, even though it's a clear wide plain. I drink some of the water I've collected. I eat another apple and ly down, I close my eyes for a second, and I hear something bullet through the air, and land right next to me. I open my eyes sit up and I examine a sharp disc that is sticking out of the ground. The bulleting noise is back and I jump out of the way. Another disc lands right under me. I look up and see many more flying towards me. I grab my things and start to run back towards the forest. A disc hits the floor in front of me, and breaks through a rock. I come to a screeching halt and run in another direction. I'm running and I can see the tree line coming up. Something cuts my side, and I see that a disc lands in front of me covered in blood. My blood. I start to push myself further and I am running in a zig-zagging lines.

Another one cuts my ear, and soon one lands straight in my calf. I stop and it starts to burn as if it were on fire. I look at it and it's turning red hot. I fall on the floor yeling in pain. I see another one flying towards my head, I roll over and it lands near my head. This disc is different, once it hit the floor, it doesn't stop spinning. It was digging into the ground. The disc finally starts to burn so much I grab and yank it out as quick as I can. I yell and I get up and run into the forest which is only a couple feet away. When I get to the first tree a disc cuts right through a tree, and it falls almost hitting me on its way down. My leg still burns but I jump over the tree and run further into the forest. I soon stop hearing the discs after they've cut down about ten trees.

I'm exhausted and just let myself fall straight onto the floor. I can feel my calf still burning, and the powerful pain is pulsing in my ears. I reach in my pack and I grab the anti-bacterial cream and some bandages. I bite down on my whip and I rub on the cream. It burns and I want to scream, but I bite down on the whip harder, knowing that I might be within earshot of one of the other tribute. I wrap my leg in the bandages, and make sure it stops bleeding.

Chapter 10

The burning pain turns into a cooling sensation. The pounding pain in my ears starts to go away, an I allow myself to go to sleep on the floor, hopefully no one passes by. I'm dead wrong. I hear speaking coming from the other side of some shrubs. I get up and try to run but my leg is still weak. I lean on a tree and start to climb as fast as I can. "Come on I heard it from over hear!", I hear a familiar voice. It's Nathine, and if he's here then the rest of their group shouldn't be to far away. I hurry up the tree, and try to conceal myself in one of the branches.

"What did you hear exactly!", Jareda asks him.

"It was a really loud thump, I mean huge, sort of like an earthquake!", he shouts and pushes his way through the bushes. "Whoa!", he exclaims as he sees the fallen trees.

"What in the world!", Derma shouts out kind of laughing. Their faces are filled with shock. "What did the gamemakers do this for!".

"Probably for that!", Caston yells out pointing at the tree I'm in. "Come on out I already saw you, Echo!". _How did he see me?_

"Hi, you guys!", I sit up on the branch. "What are you guys doing over here?", I shout down from the branch.

"Nothing just trying to get rid of as many competetors as we can!", Nathine says. "I thought you'd be a little bit more difficult to find but you've proven me wrong once again!".

"When was the first time Nathine!", I ask with a smile.

"That day in the third free-for-all! When you trapped us all in the electrified lake, by setting the trees around us on fire! Then I thought you would get a score lower than ours, but no, you out did yourself and got an 11! That makes me really proud to know you!", he says grabbing Derma's bow and arrows. I prepare my axes for a fling when a parachute comes sailing into the tree with me. They all notice, and Nathine is ready to shoot, and I jump to the branch above me where it landed. The arrow flies and hits the trunk. I look down and see that Jareda is jumping on to the tree and starting to climb. I open the package and see that it's a cross bow. I tie it to my wrist, and load it with one of it's many arrows. I point it down and the group sees it, but Jareda is still to busy climbing to see it. The yell out,"Jareda , come back down! Quick!", I look for her in the branches below me and I start to aim. I finally have a lock on her, and then an arrow scratches my cheeck. I look down and I see Derma is getiing ready to launch another one. I jump to the next tree and she misses.

I keep skipping into different trees, and I try to escape, but they follow me. I land on a flimsy branch and I fall down to the forest floor. I tumble and I start ot run again. More arrows are flying and I turn around to fire one of my own, and it gets Nathine in the shoulder. This stops Derma from chasing but Jareda and Caston continue on. I shoot back and get Caston in the shin, but it doesn't stop him. I run and I hear an awful high pitched tweeting from above me. There was a nest of bright colored birds, I'm guessing these were Capital Muttations. They were candy pink, with beaks that looked really sharp. I run ahead of it and when I see that Caston and Jareda were almost underneath the nest of the swarming candy birds I shoot an arrow into it and it falls to the ground in front of them. The birds swarm the two of them, and they start to get stabbed by the birds, I only watch for a minute and leave before the birds notice me.

I run away and come to a stop when I hear the Capital seal appears and the anthem plays, but there is no one dead tonight. I'm tired of running, and before I climb the tree to go to sleep, I clean the wound that the arrow made on my face. The next morning, I wake up and a sudden thought hits me. I whisper to myself, "The ball!". Sestra's ball is all I have left of her, I have to go back and get it. The last time I saw it was when I was running away from Juno.

I need to go back and find the ball, not only do I want it, but I need it so I don't ever forget what I'm fighting for. I start to crawl down the tree, but I tumble down and land on the crossbow, now it's broken, but I ignore it and start to walk opposite of the mountains I was following the other day. After hours of walking I stop because I hear noises. I feel like the discs are going to start flying but I jump down when I hear a lone mockingjay sing. I start to walk again and I finally reach a forest clearing. I hear a noise undeniably made by a person behind me. I crack my whip and I grab something. "Echo. It's me, Jareda, don't kill me please!", she says. I examine her for a minute and see that she is covered in puncture wounds. Not too bad, but still scars are scars.

"Jareda! Give me a reason why I shouldn't kill you?" I shout.

"Because I'm your friend?"

"You told Sestra to drop the ball and she killed herself!", I say remembering what Artimis told me two days ago.

"What? Who told you that!"

"Artimis told me everything!" I shout out.

"Artimis! That liar, she's using you, she told me Excalibar told her a secret about you, and that she was going to use it aganist you!" Excaliber? That bastard. I take spme time and think about it. Would Excalibar betray my trust so he could win these games? What am I saying? Of course he would, anyone would. She must be telling the truth, how else would she know about it.

It gives me some time to form the words in my mouth, "Okay, I believe you!" I say but I really don't. "Jareda, what are you doing sneaking up on me like that? You know I'm really paranoid enough to kill you!" I whisper to her.

"I'm sorry, I can barely think straight.", she said looking down as sad as I've ever seen her.

"What happened to you?", I noticed there's an iron claw mark going across her chest that looked fresh, only one person can use an iron claw, besides Richest, who I had happened to kill. "Where is Caston!", I ask knowing that he just attacked his own girlfriend.

"He abandoned me, and he attacked me as soon as we came up in a forest clearing. I was barely able to get away I'm just lucky Lilia came and helped me.", she said as a cannon fired. "Lilia.", she whispers to herself and cryed a little.

"When did you leave her and where?", I asked her quietly, so if Caston was near he wouldn't hear us.

"About a minute or two ago, and in that direction.", she says and more cracking coming from the direction she pointed. I pull her near a tree that could provide us cover.

"Jareda, where are you?", Caston yells out.

"Did you see which way she went?", one voice asks. I look up and take a peek to who it is. It's Urwin from District 10.

"She went this way!"

"Dude, What happened!", Urwin asked him, while he kneeled down to exam the ground.

"I don't know why she did it. She came up on me on slashed me with a dagger!", Caston answers and I see the monster lift up his hand with the iron claw on it. Jareda is at my level watching too, I here a grunt and I push her head behind the tree, so she wouldn't see. I here a loud thump, and I look back to see that Urwin is on the ground with his back split open. Caston is running out of the clearing. Excalibar comes out of nowhere and chases after him. I run out from behind the tree to take care of Urwin. I push him over so he can see me.

"Echo, Hey kiddo...", Urwin says coughing.

"Urwin, don't waste your breath, you need to rest!", I say. I hear rustling from the bush. I position my axe ready to attack.

"Whoa! Echo slow down it's just me Excalibar!", he bursts out. "Urwin, are you okay!", he rushes over to Urwin's side and grabs his hand.

"Yeah, Excalibar, I'll be fine, I just need some rest, and some bandages.", Urwin says.

"I have some bandages in my pack!", I say.

"Don't waste them, we have more at the camp!", Excalibar jumps in. _Wait a minute did he just say camp_, I thought to myself. We carried Urwin to there camp, and there Persia and Crimson carried him to his sleeping bag and treated him. After an hour they told us he wouldn't make it. Excalibar goes to talk to him first.

"Crimson, Persia, what's all this?", I ask.

"Nothing that concerns you, Echo and especially not you Jareda!", Crimson pushes me, and stares daggers at Jareda.

"What's your problem?" Jareda says coming to my aid, and Persia holds Crimson back.

"My problem is with him, he took the apples I set as a trap to get us food, and to make things worse he almost killed me with his tree trick!", she yells at me. "If anyone is going to kill him, it's going to be me."

"Crimson, I'm sorry, but I haven't even eaten the apples, here they are!", I toss them to her.

"The apples aren't important it's what you tried to do to me!", she comes in close and starts to yell.

"Crimson, I didn't do anything to that tree. Unless it was someone else, it was just the gamemakers who are trying to spice up these games.", a cannon rings out, we all turn to look at Excalibar who looks at us grimly. Urwin was dead

Chapter 11

That night Excalibar and I stayed up to keep watch. It was quiet as the crickets sing.

"This reminds me of the day we meet, do you remember that day, Excalibar?", I ask to keep the silence from consuming us completely.

"Yeah, I remember. I remember even before we met. Urwin got in a training match with you. You literally whipped him. I remember he told me that he wanted you to be part of our alliance as soon as we met up here.", Excalibar tells me still stricken by his best friend's death. He tells me that he was glad that he was the last person his best friend got to see before he passed.

"Hey, Excalibar, did you tell Artimis about my thing over killing my friends?", I ask.

"No I didn't who told you that? I would never, Echo.", he says.

"Jareda said that Artimis told her that you told her."

"That lying! I didn't. I swear."

"But how else would she..."

The anthem plays and the Capital seal appears in the sky, which distracts us from the conversation. It shows Lilia and Urwin in the sky.

_**District 8: Lilia Harvord**_

_**District 10: Urwin Carnivous**_

Excalibar gets up and presses the three middle fingers of his left hand against his lips and points them towards the sky. I know that this is a tradition in District 12, Juno told me so. I get up and join him. He looks down at me and I could see that he's crying.

Two days pass by and no one has died besides Urwin and Lilia. I've stayed in the camp with Excalibar, Persia, Crimson, and Jareda. Things in the games get easier, because we all support each other with our abilities. I got Crimson to forgive me even though I didn't really try to kill her. We have been able to sustain ourselves and we are still plotting to find other people so we could finish these games faster.

"Help me, please...", a voice says from the bushes near the river we camp by. Since it's night time, only Persia and I are awake keeping watch. We slowly creep over, ready to attack just in case the helpless voice is just a trick. It wasn't. It's Artimis from District 11, without her brother.

"Artimis, what happened to you?", Persia asks as she walks over to help her up. There are arrows all over Artimis' back.

"Where's Jason?", I ask her.

"He stayed with Nathine, Derma, and Caston!", she says crying, relieved that we had found her.

"Do you mean he actually joined up with them?", I ask.

"Yes, I didn't want to be part of it, so I went out to find you, Echo, and halfway in my search Derma attacked me.", she staggered to say, as we lay her down on her stomach to treat the wounds on her back. I take the anti-bacterial cream I still have left and use it on her, and some of the bandage wraps. She seems better in a matter of minutes, and she goes straight to sleep.

Persia and I keep watch, and I stay calm by listening to the songs the crickets whistle out. Then the eerie song stops. It goes quite, deadly quite. I wake up Persia who had dozed off, and we wake up everyone else. Everyone is surprised to see that Artimis was here. She stood up by herself and explained it all. She seemed a lot better than when we found her. A cannon fires, we could only guess who that was, my guess was that it was Jason. We could only wait for tonight to come and show us who died.

I remember why I woke everyone up, the quite. I told them but they said I was just being paranoid. They packed stuff into their bags anyways and they went back to sleep. I stayed up, still scared by the quite of the dawn. "Help me please...", I hear a voice come from the river. "Help me please...", I hear it again, I check it out knowing this wasn't a person. It was a Noise Cracker. A Noise Cracker was a mutation made by the Capital, in times of the rebellion, which led to the existence of these games I'm in right know. A Noise Cracker is half piranha, it has the teeth and the same features as one, and half frog, it has legs that let it jump high and a croak that can copy any noise it wants. When it's in danger it lets out a screech to warn others and when they are together, they attack. They secrete toxins that cause a person to go crazy. They can survive out of water which makes them more dangerous than they already are.

This Noise Cracker wasn't alone. I could see lights reflect off the water, but it's not the water its being reflected off of. It's the eyes of more Noise Crackers. The first one notices me and releases a glass shattering screech. They all start to swim to the river banks. I run to wake everyone and I tell them about the Noise Crackers that are coming. They all get their weapons and start to run. By now the frogs are on land getting closer to us. We are packed and start to run. They start chasing us at full speed. We are all running away from the water. Then I hear Persia shout "Crimson!". I look back and see that Crimson is swatting at the Noise Crackers as they swarm her on the ground. "Get off me, Help! Help!", I had never heard Crimson scream like this. "Get them off!". A silver parachute lands near me. I open it quickly and see there's a whislte. I run back to Crimson and blow on it. The Noise Crackers seem to be startled at every blow and they begin to retreat back to the river we ran away from.

Everyone comes back, and Crimson is on the floor, convulsing, and foaming at the mouth. She's twitching and she's humming out words. She's been bitten to many times to save. We all watch, which is all we can do. She gives one last strong twitch, and her head falls to the side, lifeless. Persia closes Crimson's eyes, and we walk back to the camp to see if we can scavenge anything. Crimson's cannon is shot, and we know she's in a better place now. I see the hovercraft fly by us and it takes her body.

I stop and whisper, "Bye, Crimson. I'll miss you.", I do the same thing Excalibar did for Lilia and Urwin. I turn back and continue along with them. We get back to the camp and find that not a lot is harmed just the food, and thanks to me, we still have some packed up in our packs. We decide to rest for a while somewhere else. We find a low patch of trees, like the ones I had found a day or two ago. I show them all the trick I used to sleep in the tree, and we all find seperate trees, and we go to sleep. I wake up in the afternoon, and I find that everyone, except for Jareda, is huddled down beneath the trees. I join them and ask ,"Where's Jareda?"

"That little traitor, took her pack filled with food and a mace, and ditched us." Excalibar spoke angrily. "Apparently she's been on Caston's side the whole time."

"What about the scar that Caston left across her chest?", I ask.

"I saw the whole thing, they planned it! I told you not to trust her!", Artimis says. "My brain got joggled up, and when I fell out of a tree, but it came back to me. That's why the sent Derma to try and kill me as soon as I tried to quit their alliance."

"No wonder I was suspicious of Jareda, she always was the worst when they tried to teach us how to act.", I state knowing that Jareda was up to something from the beginning. "Now what do we do?"

"We are going to find them and kill them! Then it's down to us four." Persia says, and everyone avoids eye contact with each other.

"We can't hurt Jason though, he's my brother, and they of forced him to join. They told me they'd spare me if he joined up with them...", she thinks for a second or two and continues, "If we are going to go after them, I think we should split up, groups of two.", Artimis says.

"That's an idea, we can cover more ground and get them faster.", Excalibar points out.

"I'll go with Persia and you guys can go together. Here's your weapon, Artimis." I say and hand her all my axes, instead of the just one, like I gave her when I seperated from her and Jason. I know that I'm gonna regret giving her the axes later on, but as long as she knows I trust her is good enough for me to continue these games guilt free.

Persia grabs two sheaths of arrows, her pack, and her bow. I grab my whip, Crimson's sword, and my pack. Excalibar gets the spears and pack filled with what we divided for each other, and Artimis does the same with her axes. We say our good-byes and continue on.

Persia and I find ourselves climbing up a mountain later on that night. "I don't think I can continue on for today. We have to find a place to sleep.", she says exhausted.

"Okay, you stay here I'll look for a tree where we could stay.", I look around.

"Or we could stay in that cave over there.", she laughs out.

"Okay then, get up I'll carry you there.", I laugh along with her. We get to the mouth of the small cave entrance. The doorway is small but the inside is big enough for the both of us. I set up with a flashlight as my only resource of light. I help Persia put her things down for her to go to sleep and I would keep watch. I crawl outside while she sleeps, and the sky brightens up with the Capital seal. The faces of the deceased:

_**District 1: Crimson War**_

_**District 11: Jason Zing**_

The anthem plays and the it goes off. After seeing that Jason was dead, I feel bad for Artimis. She must be crying herself to sleep right now. Poor thing, I hope she gets to go home to see her family. I don't care if I win anymore, this is horrible, I was supposed to save Sestra. _She dropped the ball on any chances of her survival, literally, _I thought to myself. I see a silver parachute coming towards me. I open the can and find that it's hot soup and a note from Akiliya. A second one comes and floats into the cave, I'm guessing that it was for Persia.

I read the note which said, "Dear Echo, Sorry about your loses, I tried to get the whistle to you quicker but no one would pay quick enough. Either way here's some soup to keep you going for the next day or two, ration it safely, so it doesn't go to waste in one day. Love, Akiliya", the note made me cry. I wasn't hungry, but it reminded me of what I'm fighting for again. I'm fighting for my friends that died, and I'm fighting to go home to District 7. Everything seemed to be clear, so I crawled back into the cave and saw that Persia was sweating a lot, and she seemed to be breathing heavily. She has a fever! She must have been bitten by a Noise Cracker when she was trying to help Crimson, and got at least a little bit of the poison in her system.

Now I know what her gift was, medicine. I woke her up as quickly as possible, "Persia, Persia, wake up, take this quick!", I shout at her until she opens her mouth and I pour it in. Her skin, which was red because she was hot, calmed down to pink, and then back to normal. She was all better.

"Thank you, Echo, if you hadn't woke me up, I would've probably died in my sleep of that fever.", she says and I hug her because I couldn't think about losing her already. She stays up while I go to sleep.

"Oh, Persia there is soup in that canister, feel free to eat some." I say before I lay down and sleep for hours. I wake up to find that Persia is sleeping as well. She looks like she's been sleeping for as long as I have. She looks so peaceful. I wake her up with the least alarming voice I have, then I hear a cannon fire from outside. This wakes Persia up instantly.

We walk out of the cave and I could see down the mountain and I see Artimis being chased by something. I immediately know who the cannon belonged to. Excalibar.

Chapter 12

I see Artimis running screaming, and Persia and I jump into action leaving everything, knowing we'll come back for it. We run down to the side and Artimis falls and crawls backwards away from what is chasing her. We jump in front of her and I see that it's another Capital Mutation. This one I've never seen before. It's a bear with a very thin coat of fur, it had a dog face with sharp teeth and tusks, and it's body was covered in armor. It was snarling with blood in it's mouth.

I know Persia's arrows wouldn't pierce it and neather would Crimson's sword. I notice that there's an axe in it's back, so I can tell that Artimis tried to fight it off. I pull out the whip and I crack it at the mutt. I do this repeatedly until it get's scared enough to leave.

I dash to Artimis' side. She was breathing heavily, still exhausted from running. "Artimis, what happened? Where's Excalibar?", I yelled at her to get a hold of her attention.

"I don't know he ran the other way. That thing killed Nathine. It was horrible, it's teeth ripped him apart...", she answered hyperventilating.

"Get a hold of yourself!", Persia shouts slapping her twice across the face. I couldn't help but laugh a little.

"Okay, I'm fine!", she screams out. We start to walk away and I hear footsteps from behind us. I turn around and crack the whip getting Derma across the cheek but she shoots an arrow that hits Artimis in the chest. Derma holds her cheek and runs off. Artimis falls to her knees, and has a painfully surprised look on her face. The arrow went straight through her, and lodged itself in her chest.

"Echo...Persia, make sure you kill that...", Artimis says with her last breath. She falls backwards onto her back with her knees still folded. I took this as permission to leave, and I run seeing Derma in my sights, she looks back and starts to scream. I feel the rush of anger run down my face. I crack the whip and it rips the back of her shirt, and she cries out in pain. I try again but this time I trip and she gets away. Persia catches up to me, and she helps me up.

"Persia, we can't let them get away with doing stuff like that!", I say cringing from the fall. The cannon shoots out, and I know that Artimis is dead for sure.

"We won't, we'll kill them before they can get to any other one of us. Now come on, we got a useless mutt running around, that we have to kill.", Persia answers giving the most evil smile I'd ever seen from her.

We continue on looking for either Excalibar or Caston, Jareda, and Derma. While we walked, Persia and I reminiced about old times.

"Remember, the first free-for-all where we teamed up and you took out 4 people when we were surrounded.", I told her.

"You've done better in trainings. You were smart enough to get everyone in the electrified water, by setting the forest surronding us on fire, remember that was the third free-for-all!", we laughed, because besides my whipping people left and right, that was my crowning achievement. We slowed down to a meadow, not the one with the cornucopia, but a meadow with beautiful flowers and butterflies. I wasn't sure, but I think I can hear mockingjays singing too.

"This place is beautiful!" I say sounding the happiest I've had the whole time I've been in the arena. I hear another footstep uneven with ours, and like the first time, I threw the whip and I got something by the neck. I was hoping it was Jareda. I pulled whatever it was through the bushes it was hiding in, and my wish came true. It was Jareda.

I pulled her towards me and got her in a head lock. Persia readies her arrow, and points it at Jareda's heart. Jareda was able to choke out a couple words, "What are you doing I'm on your side!"

"Stop lying, Jareda, Artimis told us everything, that's why you ran away, right? You saw Artimis and knew she was going to tell us about your plan with Caston and Derma!", Persia says.

"One question before we kill you, Jareda.", I say

"What would that be?", Jareda answers.

"How did you know that I told Excalibar that secret?"

"I just happened to come in at the right moment, and I heard it all. I decided to use myself to kill you. Hey, Echo, guess what!", Jareda asks.

"What?", I answered.

"I told...Sestra to...drop her ball, and...I tripped Crimson!", she said laughing. I get furious and start to squeeze her neck harder. "Caston now!", she yells out, before I break her neck. Caston pops out of the tall grass and throws a spear at Persia, who at the same time fired an arrow into his cheek.

"Ah...", I hear Persia spit out as she falls to ground. Caston yells out louder and runs off. Jareda's cannon fired and I run to Persia's side.

"Persia, No!" I felt like crying but I know that I shouldn't in front of her.

"Echo, don't leave me here alone, please.", she breathes out.

"No, I'm not going anywhere!", I tell her.

"I'm not going to make it, Echo.", she says.

"No, you're going to make it, you're going to win this game. Be strong Persia! Please!"

"Sit me up against the tree, please", I do as she says, and I ask her why. "The sun is going down, and I wanted to see my last sunset." The hovercraft comes into view and picks up Jareda's body.

"It's not your last sunset! You're a fighter! Fight it, Persia, please! Fight!"

"Echo, I'm not stupid. I'm going down right now, just like the sun. Here take my pin. It's yours now.", she hands me her District token, a mockingjay pin, like my necklace. "Hey, Echo...Stop it. Smile. Come on smile, I want to see that thirteen year old I met in the arena, that one day.", she tells me and I try to smile, but I sort of get a mix of a laughing frown. "Come on before I go, I want to see a smile. Remember what we used to do when you were sad."

"Yes, I do.", I say and nod. I try to give her the smile she asked for, but it's still to hard.

"Yeah, you remember. I use to tickle you!", she pokes my stomach and she's laughing. I try to hold back my laughter but it gets out. "Can you sing to me...my favorite song. Remember the first one you sang when we met...the Hanging tree." I couldn't hold my tears in anymore, I was smiling but I was also crying. "Come on...cheer up. I'm going somewhere better than this place.", she wipes tears off my face. "Sing, Echo. You always were the best..."

I begin the song and I watch her slowly fade away. I shake her as I sing the song to keep her awake.

_"Are you, are you_

_Coming to the tree_

_Where they strung up a man they say murdered three._

_Strange things did happen here_

_No stranger would it be_

_If we met up at midnight in the hanging tree._

_Are you, are you_

_Coming to the tree_

_Where the dead man called out for his love to flee._

_Strange things did happen here_

_No stranger would it be_

_If we met up at midnight in the hanging tree._

_Are you, are you_

_Coming to the tree_

_Where I told you to run so we'd both be free._

_Strange things did happen here_

_No stranger would it be_

_If we met up at midnight in the hanging tree._

_Are you, are you_

_Coming to the tree_

_Wear a necklace of rope, side by side with me._

_Strange things did happen here_

_No stranger would it be_

_If we met up at midnight in the hanging tree."  
_

When I look up at her I see that her eyes are closed and she has a peaceful smile on her face. I try to wake her up. I slap her, but she doesn't wake up. No matter what I do she doesn't wake up and her smile never clears off her face. I'm on my knees yelling in pain at the top of my lungs. "Persia! Don't Go! Pleeeaase, Persia, please!" She doesn't move at all. While I'm breaking down next to her body, I realize that she is in a better place. Why else would she be smiling? I ly her body down so the falling sunlight can reach her. I wipe my tears and I kiss her forehead as a send-off. I take her bow and arrows and some supplies from her pack. I go and retrieve my whip, which is broken and useless to me. Persia's cannon fires, and the mockingjays flutter around and warn of the upcoming hovercraft. There is something odd about this hovercraft, it just zooms into view faster than the rest do, it quickly takes Persia, and as fast as it came into view, it leaves. As soon as it leaves there is silence for a minute and then the mockingjays continue singing. Only this time they are singing my song. I walk away and I don't look back, I don't want to see her being taken away completely.

I think about the song I had just sung to her. I meant a lot to me. My mother showed it to me, she said that her grandma showed it to her. I sung that song when I first met Persia in our first free-for-all beach arena. I find a tree to go to sleep in for the night, and I set up to wait for the anthem to play. The Capital seal appears and my dead friends faces appear:

_**District 2: Persia Ross**_

_**District 4: Jareda Asleen**_

_**District 6: Nathine Gallaghr**_

_**District 11: Artimis Zing**_

Chapter 13

I wake up the next morning. I get down from my perch and pack up. I put Persia's pin on my shirt and start to make my way. I don't know where I'm going, but all I know is that I'm out to kill. I walk about a mile when a silver parachute lands my way. I open the canister and I find a brand new metallic whip, gloves, and a note. The note said, "Dear Echo, Please except this whip as a gift of my gratitude for taking care of Persia. This new longer bullwhip should be able to assist you. Hold the handle strongly and see what happens, if you need something to keep the handle from hurting your palm I included the gloves for holding it. From your new Friend, Morson of District 2."

Morson...of District 2, that's Persia's Boyfriend...he is real! I do what the note said, and grip the handle tightly and thorns pop out of the whip. _Amazing_, I thought to myself. I try it out and aim for a boulder. I crack the whip and reduce the boulder to rubble. I use the gloves to retract the whip, which is why I notice there is sharp stone at the end of it, I feel it and I know it's a diamond. "Thank you, Morson! I hope you know that your girlfriend, my best friend, was the best person in all of Panem...", I shout out and I know that the cameras are on me now.

I continue on, and I come to a river and see that some of the rocks are blood stained. I follow them, and they lead me to an empty camp. I see sleeping bags, food, and Derma with her hair tied in a pony tail, practicing fighting on a tree. I hide my whip and put down my stuff down and say, "Hey, Derma.", she turns around surprised.

"Oh, Hi, Echo. I didn't think you'd ever find me.", she says wrapping bandages around her hands and making fists.

"And pass up the oppurtunity of killing you myself, never!" I say getting ready for a hand to hand fight.

"That's funny, you think you're going to kill me...just like Caston did to Persia, and I did to Artimis and Kessie?", she laughs. This makes me mad and I move in close and spit on her! "Oh, a fiesty one, huh!", she releases a whip from beind her showing me that she has my old one.

"How did you..."

"I've been watching you in training, I learned how to fix a broken one and how to make one.". We start to circle with eyes locked on each other.

"Derma, you always were a little girl. Now, put the whip down, you have no idea what you're doing."

"Why should I, so you could get it?"

"Derma, I don't need a whip, badly fixed like that, to kill you... just like I did to Nathine and Jareda." I know I didn't actually kill Nathine, but Derma was in love with him, and just like she mocked me by pointing out Persia's death, I pointed out Nathine's death. This made her angry and she charged. She started throwing punches and I threw them right back. She kicked my side, and I tripped her and made her eat dirt. She threw a spear head into my temple. I pushed her head against a tree. She punched me in the mouth, and I pulled her hair backwards.

This went on for 2-3 minutes until she got far away enough to try and whip me. She cracked it once, but since I'm more experienced I grab the whip and snap it right back at her. She loses control of it and the handle whips her in the eye. "Ah! My eye!" she screams holding her face, "You better pray you win this fight, or I'm gonna torture the hell out of you.", she sighs and picks up the whip, but before she does I pull out mine and show it off. Her jaw drops, and her eyes get big. She drops the whip and tries to run.

"Not this time!" I crack the whip and make sure it wraps around her. I pull her in and she begins to beg.

"Please, don't kill me. I have so much to live for!", she starts to beg.

"Ah, what's the matter Derma? I'm guessing that you didn't pray to win this fight, because now I'm gonna torture the hell out of you!", all this killing and dying has gone straight to my head, because right now I don't feel the guilt I would've had from the beginning of the games. I slowly start to squeeze the handle, and she starts to release sharp squeals of pain. She looks up toward the sky and lets out one last shriek, and she passes out of the pain.

I release her of the whip and using the diamond on the point of the whip to write a message in the dirt for Caston or Excalibar to find next to Derma. I write down "Meet me at the cornucopia, Love Echo!". She starts to come to, and I finish her with a powerful crack of the whip, which wraps around her neck. I release the thorns from the whip, and pull it tightly so she runs out of air, and at that moment her cannon fires. I walk up to her body and look at the girl who killed some of my friends, I spit on her and say, "Pathetic...".

I walk away and realize that I just killed an innocent girl. The girl that I talked to that day on the roof. The girl whose mother is all she has. I remember in the 4th free-for-all, I found Derma hiding in bushes, shaking. She was alone. For some, reason nobody liked her. I decided to help her. We made it to the final five before the other three, besides us, Jenten, Darwin, and Crimson, went on to knocking us out. I just finished off the shy, hated girl hiding in the bushes. I remember the look in her big brown eyes when I found her. She had arrows in her hand but she didn't know how to use them. After we had been knocked out, I taught her how to use them, and in exchange she taught me some stuff from District 5. Now the little twelve year old from three years ago, was dead.

I get my things and start on my way back to the cornucopia. Stupid Caston must of thought that leaving Derma to protect their supplies was enough. Obviously not. I take his iron claws, just in case of we get into close combat. I throw all there food in the river and take some myself.

I end up going up the mountain where Persia and I stayed the last night she was alive, and I see that the hovercraft has just taken Derma's body. I starts to rain and I think it would be better to wait in the cave for the rain to stop. I sneak into the cave. I realize we left Persia's silver parachute, and there is a note attached to it, I didn't even notice it. I pick it up and read it. "Dear Persia, This is a remedy for a fever which you obviously have. It is straight from the District 2 hospital that we run. Think of us when your cured, and we'll be waiting at home. Love, Mom and Dad", it was heart felt and I'm glad that Persia had something from home before she passed. I fall asleep in no time and before you know it I'm awaken by the anthem playing in the rainy sky. I slept through the whole day. I see the one face and it's of the person I was happy to release from these games.

_**District 5: Derma Majester**_

Something different happened tonight after the anthem played again. Claudius Templesmith's, the announcer, voice came on and announced, "Now, That there is only four of you left, we will be serving a very special dinner at the Cornucopia tomorrow, and all four of you are invited. Have a nice day, and may the odds be ever in your favor!", and as quickly as his voice came in, it's out.

Four of us? I only remember that it's Excalibar, Caston, and...oh. I remember now. Trenton from District 8. I saw him when I was running from the cornucopia. I saw him run into the forest without anything._ I appluad the boy from District 8 who scored an 11, he's been able to make it this far without anything_. A cannon fires. _Oh, never mind._

I wake up the next morning and I know that I'm going straight to the cornucopia, because I have a dinner date with one of Panem's eligable bachelors, and one that is soon to be married. I feel like I should do something to show that Persia was my friend, and if I die people will always know. Over the mouth of the cave I carve in, "Here lies the friendship of Echo Ivy and Persia Ross, two mockingjays that seperated to soon."

I locate where the cornucopia might be from the top of the mountain, and I also see dark ominous clouds over it. I pull out some dried fruit, and some of the leftover soup that Akiliya had sent me two days ago. I start walking in the general direction of the cornucopia, and I pass a cave that I was positive wasn't there. This is where Artimis got shot by Derma, and where Artimis was cornered by the cliff wall. There was no huge cave behind us when we saved her. I hear low-pitch screeching voices from inside the cave, and I know what it is, a nest of Bellow Bats. I was once attacked by some in the 2nd free-for-all in the Elite's training ground. The arena was in an underground chasm. They're also Capitol Mutations.

These nasty little creature are bats that don't have eyes. but they can sense anything. Movement, breathing, heartbeats, etc. The edges of their wings can cut through skin, and they have screeches that are really low, so it's sort of like an explosion when they get together. These facts are enough for me to get ready to run when I hear their bellows beginning to get closer.

I start to run and I was right, they were coming out, and nothing I can do can keep them from sensing me. I see some getting closer to me and I can feel their wings slashing my back. I can see more trees, like the ones I found on the first day, and I can hear buzzing. A loud powerful buzzing, and from a cross two rows of trees, I see Excalibar running from Tracker Jackers. Tracker Jackers are the deadliest type of wasps/hornets in the world. Also Capital Mutations.

Chapter 14

He's jumping off fallen logs. I think that this is my chance to get rid of him, but if I attack him I'll have Tracker Jackers, and Bellow Bats on my tail. I see Excalibar uses a slingshot to distract the Tracker Jackers. I remember that I have my whistle, the one sent to me to get rid of the Noice Crackers. I find it in my pocket and struggle to get it in my mouth. Once it's in, I blow on it so hard, the Bellow Bats start to retreat quickly and I see that some of the Tracker Jackers are falling dead one by one.

I see Excalibar run towards me. I expect to be attacked, so I bring out the whip. He stops and quickly and catches his breath. "Echo...you're still alive!", he cheers and tries to get near me, but after being here for a week and a half, I'm not used to getting touched.

"Excalibar, what happened after you and Artimis seperated?" I say, still having the whip ready. He explains the story on how they got seperated by the rhinoca-bear. He says he soon meet up a couple times with Caston and they've been having fights with no big results. I tell him what had happened since he seperated from Artimis. He was distraught when I told him about Persia's death. After our conversation we agreed to team up until Caston was dead, and then we are free to turn our weapons on each other.

We walk to the cornucopia, and I see the spot where Juno was killed. I could still see the blood drenched grass from where I axed Issac in the head. If that's here, then I'm near the platform from where I started. Where I saw Sestra blow herself up. _I forgot the ball,_ I remember, that's why I came back, and met Persia, Excalibar, and Crimson. "Wait up a minute, Excalibar, I need to get something." I see a bush of flowers and I pick some. Excaliber follows me around the other platforms. I put a flower on each platform that belonged to the people who had died, except for Persia and Sestra, I put four on theirs. The platform that belonged to Sestra was still scorched.

Excalibar patted my back, and I let him, because I know I could've trusted him. I hear a loud roar, and I see Caston running towards us with his spear ready to throw. The roar didn't come from him or the Noise Crackers chasing him, which as soon as he started to go down to the cornucopia, stopped. We went straight down to end his life in this arena. Then I realize that that the roar came from the earth. It was an earthquake. The ground was opening around the cornucopia. I didn't know what to do it was just horrible. I couldn't stand at all, I was falling on all fours constantly. I see a crack in the floor opening up before me, so I know I have to get myself, and Excalibar across safely. I grab his arm and jump over the opening. We're going left and right trying to avoid the opening cracks in the earth below us. As soon as I reach the cornucopia, the earth's trembling seems to soften, and then fades away completely. It starts to drizzle, and the gray clouds above us start to crack with thunder.

We climb the cornucopia and meet Caston on the top. The earthquake was caused by the gamemakers, obviously. Excalibar instantly jumps on to Caston and they fight. I didn't know what to do. I told Excalibar to hold him down so I can kill Caston. "I'm trying!" he yelled out everytime. Then I got the bow and arrow in perfect position to hit Caston, but he sees me, and when I shoot the arrow, he tosses Excalibar in front of himself and I hear a low grunt come from him. The arrow pierced his heart. Caston pushes him off and he jumps on me. _This is it, Caston just won the 55th annual Hunger Games, the odds were always in his favor_, I thought as I saw my whole life in the arena flash before my eyes.

"I killed Persia, Urwin, Trenton, Lilia, and now I'm going to kill you!", he said. _What was with his team and mocking me?_

I can see that the sky above me is dark and I can see sparks in the cloud. I spit in his face and say, "I killed Jareda, Derma, Issac, Richest, and Nathine your kills aren't anything compared to mine!".

"I'm going to enjoy doing this!", he growls and he raises up the spear. I'm not down for the count though. He stabs it down into where I am, but I move my head, I push him off and I get up. I plunge one of Persia's arrows into his back. He shouts in pain but it's not enough to kill him. I grab Crimson's sword and drive it through his shoulder and pin him to the cornucopia. He refuses to die, so I pull a dagger out of Excalibar's pocket and pin his leg down to the cornucopia.

Caston screams out in pain, but he's still alive and cursing at me. I didn't know what else to do. I hear something beeping, I look up and see a parachute, and I see a rod with a spike for an end. It's for me. No note, but the side says it all, it's a lightning rod. I grab Excalibar and throw him over the side of the cornucopia making sure he lands on my pack that I threw done before him.

Caston is yelling, kicking and is trying to get detached from the cornucopia. It seems to be helping him because the dagger and the sword seem to wiggle out, but I did not come all this way, and lose all my friends, to lose. I grabbed the lightning rod and shout out, " Hey Caston, Persia's arrow, Crimson's sword, Excalibar's knife, and my lightning rod! Think of this as a reunion of parting friends!", and I push it into his right sholder and I make sure it finds its way through the cornucopia. He's stuck for sure. He realize's what I just did, and he starts to yell out, "Don't leave me to die this way! You bastard!".

I jump off and land on the packs. I pick them up and I carry Excalibar away from the cornucopia. I don't dare look back, when I hear the lightning hit, I hear Caston's scream for a short period, and zap, he was dead. Everything on the cornucopia went flying into the air, and his cannon fired.

I dragged Excaliber to his platform and I waited for him to die, because he was on the fast track to doing that. I sat next to him, and he started to talk. "Echo, If you win, tell Carmenella that I love her, now and forever."

"I will..", I look him in the eyes and say, then I wonder, _what does he mean by "If"_, and it hits me. Well, actually Excalibar stabs me.

Chapter 15

Excalibar just stabbed me in the stomach. I'm bleeding out quickly, so I look at him and I tell him what I've always thought of him. "Excalibar, you were my hero. I looked up to you, I saw you like a brother.", I started to choke, feeling the blood pouring out of my mouth.

"I'm sorry Echo, I have to go back and see Carmenella! I'm sorry for everything. Forgive me?", he says crying, with his face covered in blood stains. I remember saying that if I made it to the final two with Excalibar, I would give up my life so he can continue on. It makes sense, because out of all of us, Excalibar would probably be the best Elite. Then it would be Persia, Urwin, Crimson, and then me. I guess I'm going to stay true to what I said. Excalibar is going to win this, now I'm just going to close my eyes, slip away, and then meet up with all the other Elites in that better place people call death.

"I do.", these are my last words to him. When I look up I see that the spear that Caston tried to impale me with, is coming down with a lot of velocity. I see it land right next to me and in Excalibar. The cannon fires and I close his eyes. I start to sing safe and sound again because I know I'm going to die right know as well. I hear trumpets playing and Claudius Templesmith is saying something, everything is fading out to me, ao I can barely understand.

I fall back and I see that I'm being lifted into the sky by the hovercraft above me. _What's the use I'm already going to die, and if there's a chance of saving me, just let me die. All my friends are dead._ All I know is everything is fading away.

I wake up and find that I'm no longer in the arena. I'm on a table in what I think is a hospital. The door slides open and Akiliya walks in. She looks happy to see me. "Echo, congradulations! You won!", she says while hugging me.

"Wait, where's Sestra...and Excalibar...and Persia?", I look around hysterically to see if they're here and about to pop out and surprise me.

"Echo, don't you remember?", Akiliya sits down next to me. "They died...in the arena...with you."

"I died?"

"Only a matter of minutes, but they were able to revive you.", she explains.

"No, you're playing a trick on me, Persia and Excaliber are going to pop out of those curtains, huh? And Sestra...Sestra is probably home right now eating dinner with her family.", I run to the curtains and push them apart to see that no one is there. I see a window, I can see that I'm high up, because I can see towers and the top of buildings. I was still in the Capital. "If they're not there, then I'm guessing Sestra isn't back home in District 7. What happened, Akiliya?", my eyes tear up.

"You won the Hunger Games.", this statement alone answers all my questions, all my friends were dead. I get walked to the room where I lived in the week before the games. When I'm inside I realize that my wound might still be bleeding, I lift up my shirt but nothing is there. It's like the games had been wiped away from my physical appearence and some from my memory.

I take a shower, and I dress, I jump onto the bed. I start this weird mixture of laughing and crying. I start off by crying, and then it becomes a scene. I'm laughing just because I can. Everything becomes a joke to me. Seran comes rushing into the room, "What's the matter?", she says in her high-pitched voice.

"I just won the Hunger Games!", I say laughing with tears in my eyes. Later on that night I try going to sleep knowing what dreams and nightmares await me. I start to countdown the people who were in the arena with me to help me sleep.

_**District 1: Richest Wave**_

_**District 1: Crimson War**_

_**District 2: Excalibar Precense**_

_**District 2: Persia Ross**_

_**District 3: Darwin Bolt**_

_**District 3: Nessa Wire**_

_**District 4: Caston Segwada**_

_**District 4:**_ _**Jareda Asleen **_

_**District 5: Issac Stroid**_

_**District 5: Derma Majester**_

_**District 6: Nathine Galaghr**_

_**District 6: Caitlyn Calliton**_

_**District 7: Sestra Celenova**_

_**District 8: Trenton Venoose**_

_**District 8: Lilia Harvord**_

_**District 9: Alex Zecko**_

_**District 9: Clydessa Dardez**_

_**District 10: Urwin Carnivous**_

_**District 10: Kessie Firstina**_

_**District 11: Artimis Zing**_

_**District 11: Jason Zing**_

_**District 12: Jenten Mao**_

_**District 12: Juno Badge**_

I miss them all. I loved all of them, even though they turned evil in the games, it wasn't there fault. It was the Capital's fault for pinning us there against our will. _Pin!_ I got up and turn on the light, and searched for Persia's pin and my necklace, and there they were on the nightstand. I feel safe again, knowing that the two mockingjays were back together again. I held on to the pin, which to me symbolizes my best friend's spirit being with me.

I woke up the next day and was sent to my prep team, to be prepped for the presentation of the victor, which is me. They all start to cry, because they truly are happy to see me. They get me ready, and they send me off to the head stylist, Tigris. I practically run into the room and yell out, "Tigris, I'm ba-". It's not Tigris in the room, but Stone, Sestra's stylist. "Hello, Stone, where's Tigris?", I ask.

"She was fired, but she told me to give this to you if you won!", Stone says handing me an envelope. I take a card out, and it has a paw print as a design. I open the card and it says, "Congradulations, Echo. If you are reading this you've won the Hunger Games. Don't worry about me, but for now listen to Stone I left him a design made especially for you. It's simple, but it's something not a lot of designers do anymore, it's unique...like you. Good Luck, and I'll see you at the banquet for your sponsers. Love, Tigris".

I felt lucky to have known her and glad that I will see her again. "Let's do this Stone!", I say. He gets me prepared just as quick as Tigris did.

Chapter 16

"Ladies and Gentlemen! The winner of the 55th Annual Hunger Games...Echo Ivy!", Caesar Flickerman cheers on while I walk down the steps to my seat.

"Hello again, Caesar!" I say.

"Hello to you, too. As you know you've won the Hunger Games, that's one title on it's own, but you won a very special one. Do you know why?" he asks me, I can feel the cameras zoom in on me.

"Yes, because I beat every other Elite." I say nodding my head.

"Yes, what a smart boy you are. Now that means you're the best Elite in all of Panem. I mean your smart, compassionate, agile, strong, and really good looking!", the audience goes crazy, "Come on we got some clips, let's show him what we're talking about. We'll start out with agility.", a monitor shows a clip of me running from Crimson and doing a perfect jump over the fallen tree. "Now let's show him compassionate!", a clip of me helping Persia, and singing to Excalibar and her. "Now strong!" a clip of me breaking Jareda's neck, and killing Issac, Caston, Richest, and Derma. "let's move on to smart." It shows my final moments in the arena. Caston pinned to the cornucopia, and me "strategically" placing Excalibar on the platform where the spear later landed on him. "And good-looking...well your the one sitting in front of us!"

"Thank you, I appreciate it. Especially from a city filled with beautiful people!" Everyone applauds themselves. _Yeah, a city of stuck-up, self-centered..._Caesar interupts my train of thought, "You're also very talented. That singing, it was superb. Where did you learn to sing like that! And the song itself made me cry so much when you sang it to Persia! I almost cried all over myself and Claudius!", he laughs and so does the audience.

"Singing comes natural to me. It's probably heredity, my mother is just as good as me or even better. The song was taught to me by my mother and she was taught by her grandmother."

"Well can I ask you a couple a questions, is that okay?"

"You ask the questions you want!", I answer.

"Okay, How did you know where to put Excalibar so he could get killed by the spear?"

"Actually, I didn't know that would happen, I thought Excalibar would die on his own of the bleeding."

"Wow! So it was just fate that helped you win! It sounds like there is someone up there keeping an eye out for you!"

"I guess that there is, so many people wanted to help me win. It was either that or the odds were really in my favor.", I state and the crowd laughs.

"Yes, Persia and Sestra. Now tell me how did you feel when you saw Sestra...blow herself...sky high?"

"I felt like giving up on everything, like I should've stepped off the plate and blown myself up, but I knew there were people back home depending on me to return."

"How long did you know Persia?"

"Since our first training in the Elite Ground. I meet her while we were practicing in an old Beach Arena. We teamed up and got to the end, but we were knocked out. She really was my best friend."

After an hour of clips of me and answering questions we come to the conclusion. Caesar says "This our last question, are you ready?"

"Shoot..."

"How do you feel about all your friends that died in the arena?" cameras zoom in on me, and people all over are sitting on the edge of their chairs.

"That's not a hard question to answer," I start off saying, " I respected all of them. I loved them all. When it came down to it we were always a family, we could always depend on each other. I feel that they are the lucky ones. They are all in a better place. I remember that Persia told me to lean her against the tree so she could see her last sunset. To me that was the only beauty in this world, and I feel that every one of the Elites knew how to appreciate this beauty. Now everytime I see the sunset or sunrise I will always think of them, and the fun times we've had together. I will look at the sun and know that each of my friends is safe and sound."

_**The End**_


	4. Chapter 4

_Safe & Sound_

Chapter 1

We all stand for the Anthem of Panem. We stand through the history of our country and how "wonderful" it is. Ever since the reaping three years ago, I bear total and complete hatred towards the Capital, and it's politicians. We all sit down, because the Escort, Seran Arrow, is about to begin this horrible ceremony. She stands on tall shoes that make it look like it's harder for her to walk. Her wood brown mini dress tops a longer dark green one. Her hair is down and it practically looks like a sheild. She always dresses like a crazy tree, in honor of the tributes that have died under her watch. She pulls out a name from the girl's bowl and then the boy's bowl. While she does this I have a horrible flashback to the reaping three years ago. In that reaping the name for the girls belonged to one of two of my bestfriends, Venice. She was sent up, and before Seran could read the name for the boys, my other best friend volunteered to be the boy tribute of District 7 to help protect Venice. I return to this point in time and she is about to randomly chose which envelope to open first, the boys or the girls.

She grabs the envelope, kisses it, and says "May the odds be ever in your favor!". She opens it, and she nods. "Echo Ivy!" The whole square goes silent and turns to me. I'm not worried one bit about the Hunger Games, not after all the training I've recieved, if anything this is really unfair to the other District tributes. I get up off my seat and walk up to the stage. The Peacekeepers don't bother to guard me on the way up, they know I'll go without a fight. I don't know what to say about the girl who gets chosen.

"Ladies, you next!", she says and looks over to the side with the girls in it. She studies the card and then smirks. "Clair Orchid...", she says. I know this name, and the odd of me winning have just became 22 out of 24.

"Wait!", someone yells out in the crowd of girls everyone turns. "I volunteer!" I scan the area for the idiot who just volunteered to be sent to their death. I look and there is a circle of girls around one who stands up off her seat. Sestra! She runs up to the stage and climbs up to the stage and yells out again, "I volunteer as tribute!". My odds just droped from 22 to 0 out of 24. I couldn't kill my(figurative) little sister.

"Okay, we have our tributes of District 7! Echo Ivy and...Sestra Celenova!", Seran calls out the names again, as Sestra and I stand in front of everyone in District 7. I can see my father holding my mother as she weeps hysterically. My older brother next to them, he stares at us and his eyes are red with anger, because he knows he can't do anything for me now. Sestra moves in closer to me and hugs me. I'm still angry with her because of the stunt she just pulled.

Seran, our escort, moves in front of us and announces that we will now be allowed to see our visitors in the Justice Building. We are walked in while our new mentor, Akiliya Becca, talks to Seran. I walk in my room, where I will await my visitors. First it's my mom and dad, along with my little sister, Brazilia.

"We'll be rooting for you!" my mom said holding in tears.

"We'll be waiting to see you back here, don't worry if you remember everything the training has taught you, you will come back.", my dad says assuring me that I was going to make it. I hold Brazilia and cradle her in my arms, as she coos and giggles, I couldn't help but think that this would be the last time I'd ever see her. The peacekeepers pull them out and I kiss Brazilia goodbye, and the door slams. A minute of silence passes and my brothers rush in and surround me. My little brother, Leo, grabs on to me and he holds on while my older brother, Arslo, and I talk.

"You are going to be okay," he says grabbing me by the shoulders and shaking me, "as long as you use what the training taught you."

"I remember every single thing, but it's not me you should worry about me, take care of Brazilia and Leo!", as I say his name he squeezes me harder. "Leo!", I yell at him, "Listen to me. I'm probably not gonna come back..."

"Echo, he doesn't want to hear this!" Arslo stops me.

"No, he has to know!" I continue, "If I don't come back, you have to promise to take care of Brazilia, and yourself. Pay attention to everything Dad and Arslo teach you! Promise!" he nods. The poor thing is mute, doesn't talk for anything. I never knew why, and I might never will. "Arslo, when you leave, can you ask Sestra's dad to come?"

"I will, but for now good-bye, Jabberjay." he reaches over and puts his favorite necklace around my neck. It's a mockingjay in a gold circle and an arrow in its beak.

"I can't take it, it's yours." I protest.

"Think of it as a family emblem, and a district token. Plus it's good luck. I know how much you like to sing, and this little fellow represents that." I was ready to start crying and then the Peacekeepers come in and pulls them out.

"Take care of the family, both of you, I'll be back, I promise." I yell out a lie after they leave. Right after they leave my friend, Clair, walks in. She was supposed to be the girl tribute until Sestra, volunteered for the spot.

"I'm sorry, that I'm not going in with you..." she said muffling the words by covering her mouth, so I wouldn't hear that she was going to cry.

"Don't worry you couldn't do anything about it." I hug her before she starts to explode with tears. Sestra volunteered for her and I'm still mad at her. Now that she is in it, it means that I'm going to have to try to protect my dear friend with my life.

"I came to give you this, they all pitched in, they bought it as soon as you were sent in here." she says handing me a card with all my friends name on it. "They knew you wouldn't have enough time to see us all.", She was right and even right now I only have about 15 minutes left to still see people. We talk more, and she encourages me that it isn't unfair to use all the things I've been taught as an Elite. This is something we are trained in, to survive a Hunger Game. What were the chances that both Elites of District 7 would be chosen as tributes. This is absolute craziness. A couple more friends walk in after her, and we all enjoy our last conversation. "Remember, you don't have to kill anyone, you just have to survive.", Clair recounts to hug goodbye, and they all leave, only to be followed by Sestra's dad.

"I'm sorry, that your daughter volunteered to help me.", I say looking down at my feet knowing that he might be holding a grudge on me for somehow getting his daughter to face certain death.

"She did do it to protect you, but she also said that as her last wish, she doesn't want me to be angry at you. I wasn't in the first place, I know she sees you like a big brother, and that's why she did it.", he assures me that he isn't angry at me.

"I promise that she will be back, I am going to protect her, even if it means my death.", I look him in the eye. I can tell that it makes him feel better. The Peacekeepers escort him out and I'm off to the train. On the way ther I have another flashback. It was watching my friend, Joel volunteering to help Venice in the 52nd annual Hunger Games. I remember seeing him get killed on the screen in the town square. I really hope that this volunteering business won't end up like the one from three years past. Joel made the same promise to protect Venice, just like I promised to protect Sestra. Hopefully I don't fail like he did. I hope...

Chapter 2

I walk into the train station being escorted by the Peacekeepers, and the train awaits us. I step on the plate waiting for the door to open for us. I look back to see what I'm leaving behind, I see my family and friends looking at us as with despair in their eyes. The door slides open and we're hit with cool air from what Seran says is called an air conditioner. I walk in and rush to a window to see us pulling out of the station. When I reach it, my family has passed already.

I walk into my quarters for the trip to the Capital, and I practically drool over the rooms features. I haven't been in one of these trains since I was 13, when I had just been chosen to be part of a group called the Elites. They sent us to the Capital, as part of an examianation, which I passed. Two kids from each district were sent as part of it, randomly. We've had training sessions since then, but we don't go in these fancy trains anymore. It's always a hovercraft. Just thinking about being an Elite scares me. Especially what I have to do in case I'm ever chosen as a tribute in the Hunger Games. I can't even think about it, so I do anything to get my mind off of it.

I walk into the shower and spend at most twenty-five minutes. I push all the buttons that I remember using. When I come out, I smell like a whole bouquet of different flowers, and the shower is litered with dirt and pine needles that we're still left on me. They left clothes in the closet space in the room, and I don't remember that being there when I came in. Whatever. I chose a simple black shirt, and jeans. I put on the Mockingjay necklace, and head off to the dining hall. There I find Akiliya talking to Sestra, this is there first time meeting, but I've known Akiliya for a long time.

I first met Akiliya when one of my assignments as an Elite was to learn and study from a past winner. I was given Akiliya to learn with. She was the only one in her game that killed people. The careers from her games all died in a mountain explosion, which did wipe off most of the tributes. All she had was a pack and a single rope. She turned it into a lasso and used it to kill off the rest of the tributes. I also liked how she got people to believe she was a weak contendor. She used sadness, and "depression" to convince people she wasn't worth the kill.

I get to the buffet and stack my plate with so much food, yet I contained myself so I can impress our Escort, Seran. She has as much power over sponsers as Akiliya. I sit down with all them at the table, and they are talking about what we have to do to look appealing to sponsers. I've had this talk with Akiliya already so I can sit back, eat, and listen. I already know this stuff anyways. As an Elite, I'm trained in almost everything imaginable. I already planned what I want for us to wear for the presentation while I was taking shower. The pine needles were my inspiration for this.

"So what your saying is that I'll need to pretty up more than I usually do?", Sestra asks questioning it. Around District 7 no one usually "pretties" up, girls at school usually keep there hair down, or in a pony tail. I know what to do to my hair, I know that to the Capital, the bigger the better. A boy's hair is simple, spike it up, or hike it down. I'm thinking about doing something completely different.

"That's exactly what I'm saying, just ask Echo over here, he knows about it, after all he is an Elite.", Akiliya answers her pointing me out.

"An Elite?", she asks looking at me more intrested than she has ever.

"It's nothing big...", I tell her. I never really told Sestra about my Elite Status, even though I trained her with some weapons, that I keep hidden.

"Nothing big!", Seran cuts in, "Elites are something really big in the districts and even in the Capital!", she exclaims.

"Wait, what's an Elite?", Sestra asks finally.

"An Elite is someone who is knowingly being trained by the Capital, and in the event of another war, they are are used as leaders in the Capital's side. They are only 24, two from each district.", Akiliya says as if she's making me look a lot better, "We are going to use his Elite status to help us get sponsers for you two."

"It honestly is nothing, Sestra.", I say to her so she ignores it, but she keeps pushing it.

"It is something...this is what's going to keep you alive, which tribute is going to mess with an Elite!", she's overjoyed.

"I know it'll keep me alive, but what's gonna keep you alive!", I get up and slam my hands down on the table.

"What do you mean, what's gonna keep me alive, it's you who has to live, you're an Elite.", she says jumping up as well. "Am I right?", she looks around and everyone has averted there eyes to me, they want me to tell her the truth.

I sit down, and I tell her, "Sestra, Elite's are killing machines. If an Elite is ever chosen to be part of the Hunger Games, it's his or her job to win...no matter what."

"Tell her the rest...", Akiliya tells me softly.

"Tell me what?", Sestra lowers her volume.

"It's my job to kill my district partner, as long as he or she is not another Elite.", I finally say. The whole cart goes silent. Seran gets up walks over to a velvet couch and continues doing her make up. Akiliya looks down at her plate and continues to eat.

"Well, then I don't have to protect you anymore? Because as soon as you see me in the arena you'll have to kill me?", Sestra sits back down.

"No, not true, there is a loop hole.", Seran says with a smile holding back a giggle, as if we were going to thank her for her knowledge. We all look at her waiting for the answer, especially me because I really don't want to kill my figuritive little sister. "Well, if you have to know, in order for an elite to avoid killing their district partner, his or her partner has to get a score of nine or higher."

I see hope, but all she has to do is get a high score, and I've taught Sestra a couple of weapons. Iron claws, swords, and bows and arrows. "Seran! Is there anywhere on the train were we could train?", I ask her in a hurry.

"There is a cart in the back.", she answers.

"Thank you, Seran!", I hug here abruptly, grab Sestra, and I rush off to the back.

In the cart, I showed how to use her weapons. When she was able to get a hang of it, I let her go to her room to rest. As I was about to leave I spot a whip, and a thick wooden target. In no time I pull the whip out and break the target, just to see if I could still do it.

I look around for a scythe, which was the first weapon I had ever used in my life. Besides an axe, but I just used axes to cut down a tree. I cut targets with the scythe, leaving no target untouched. I go to iron claws, which are just metallic shackles that have long iron blades coming from them. I use them to finish the rest of the cut up targets. I spend more time in the back cart practicing, having fun with the weapons. I eventually look at the clock and see that it's 11 at night. I walk back to the main cart feeling accomplished. It's dark except for the lit up screen of a television. It's the re-run of the reapings in all the Districts. Right now it's just Caesar Flickerman talking about something Capital related.

Akiliya and Seran walk in from nowhere and we start watching re-runs of the reapings in other districts. It begins with District 1. Richest Wave and Crimson War. Wait I know them they're also Elites like me. District 2, Excaliber Presence and Persia Ross. _They're Elites also_. Something was definately weird. I saw the tributes continue Districts 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12. They were all Elites.

Except for Sestra, and the boy from District 11, all of them were Elites. I was scared just seeing all these people get chosen and I was glad that Sestra didn't see this. "How do you feel, Echo?", Akiliya asked knowing all the faces of the Elites.

"I feel like I'm about to have to kill 22 of my closest friends...", I say staring at the screen distantly.

Chapter 3

The announcer, Caeser Flickerman, interupted my train of thought. Seran turns it off, and tells me to go to bed "tomorrow is a really big, big, big day". I'm pretty sure that they were discussing our strategy since the old one about using my Elite status is a bust.

After my shower, I go to sleep to have a dream about all my elite friends, and especially which ones were going to fall at my hands or whip. I dream about my first day at the Elite training building at the Capital. Persia, tribute from district 2, helped me on the first Free-for-all battle, all for one and one for all in a pretend Arena. She and I teamed up when I caught her half dead of deadly poisons from a Noise Cracker. We went on to kill(knock out) 6 opponents.

It's followed by a dream of the day I met Jareda from District 4, she was amazing when it came to swinging her mace around. We met when we caught each other in our second Free-For-All. We met during a sunset at a cliff in a mountainous arena. The mace caught me offguard, I didn't expect it to come from such a beautiful girl like herself. We knocked each other out and we spent the day with each other when we were resting in the training building. I remember that at first she was mad at me for eliminating her from the game. Apparently she was trying to talk more to her District partner, she eventually told me she liked him. I told her I would make it up to her, and I was able to sneak us out of the training building, which apparently is hidden in a flower-filled plain. I can honestly say that if it wan't for her crush on Caston, I could have fallen in love with her. I guess we just weren't meant for each other.

They eventually became a couple. They lasted for about a month or two, and poof it was over. Once I had found this out, I thought I should've revisited my feelings for her, but those feelings weren't there anymore.

I woke up in a cold sweat after a nightmare of me killing Excalibar, one of the Elites I idolize. Excalibar reminds me of my own brother. Caston, from District 4, looks like my older brother, I remember the first time I saw him, I almost called out, "Arslo!", that's how much they look alike. I took a shower and went to breakfast and saw that Sestra, was looking out the window watching the scenery. It was mountainous and the train tracks went over a lake. I gave her a hug and told her, "Sestra, we're going to have to win the crowd over today, you understand that right?"

"I do!", she says hugging me back.

"We have to work together so you can win!", I say.

"I don't care if I win, you are more important than me, you have to win!"

"No! You have a lot more to live for...you have a little sister that depends on you to return, and your Father is more broken than anyone in District 7. He already lost your brother, and your Mom. That poor man doesn't deserve to lose another loved one in his life.", I tell her assertively, and she nods because she knows it's true. We start to pull into the station, I can see the crowds. I start to wave and blow kisses to them, some of them pretend to catch my kisses, and I look at Sestra to join me. She does, and she's more of a hit than I would I've thought.

I see that the other trains have pulled in and I see the tributes of all the other districts outside and I'm filled with happiness that I see all of them again since the last time we met which is about a months ago, but this time there is much more on the line. I run towards Persia and give her the biggest hug, while Sestra goes with Seran to her room.

"Persia!", I say cheering.

"Hey Jabberjay, How have you been!", she says with the same tone of voice I had.

"I'm good let's go say hi to others!", I say and we walk off to meet the tributes from Districts 11. Artimis and Jason. It turns out that Jason is Artimis' older brother, he told me that he came here to protect his little sister, and I understand why he would come.

I look around and see that Jareda from District 4 is here and she's talking to District 5's very own Issac and Derma. I look back and I see her holding hands with someone, her district partner, Caston. They're back together. I felt happy for them, and also a bit jealousy, I don't know why but I did. I disregard the feeling and keep myself in a good mood for when I talk to them right now. I walk up to Jareda, and greet them both. I hug her, and I tell Caston hello. The whole time they do not let go of each other's hand. "Echo, how have you been!", Jareda says.

"I've been great, and I can see you two are too!", I direct attention to their new relationship.

"Yeah, we are happy together. I'm happy that were happy together.", Caston says laughing. Jareda grabs Persia's hand and asks Caston for permission to go talk to someone. He allows it and turns to me. "So how have you been?", he puts his hands in his pocket. and he sounds a bit angry.

"Good, why so angry, Caston?", I ask him.

"Because I want you to stay away from Jareda.", he says in an angry hushed tone, while he grabs my wrist.

"What...why?", I say holding in the look of pain on my face.

"You know why. You like Jareda. You're the reason why we broke up in the first place.", he tightens his grip.

"What are you talking about, I don't know why you guys broke up in the first place."

"You dirty liar, I broke up with her because she cheated on me with you!"

"That's stupid. It's true I had feelings for her once but not anymore, I'm glad you guys are back together.", I say and he lets go. He's grip has strengthened since the last time I saw him.

"Sorry, I'm just really self-concious about her, since I heard you kissed her."

"On the cheek, but that was a long time ago.", he still looks suspicious. "Caston, I swear I wouldn't do anything to come in between you two, ever.", He turns back around, and I leave. I walk away and except that they are happy together, they want to remain that way, but they are in the worst place to be in love. In a fight to the death match where only one person can win. I feel depressed by the fact that not both of them could live, or I'm going to kill them.

I walk away and I pass by my own idol, Excalibar, He says hello, but I can feel so much sadness in me, I ignore him. As soon as I get to my room I start to scream my head off. I know that in this moment my anger towards the Capital. An hour later after releasing everything, I go to lunch and after I get to go get dressed for the presentation of the Tributes to the Capital. I get preped by my Prep Team, which is made up of a Andreas. A woman with purple-skin, pink teeth, and is wearing a smock covered in feathers. Harmonio, he looks like a snake with a forked tongue, and red dyed eyes, his smock is a lot more colorful, it kinda looks like the colors of a poisonous animal. Then last but not least, Calpurnia. She looks like an odd mix of the other two, she's a snake bird, with surgically implanted feathers, and redish-pink tattoos that make her look like she has scales.

They talk about upcoming social events with the rest of the other Prep teams that involves a lot of drama, or I think that's what it is. Something about someone having an affair with a married woman, and vice-versa, either way I tune them out. They are finally done and I head off to see my head designer/stylist.

Her apperance surprises me. She has surgically implanted whiskers, and other stuff to make her look like a cat, or a tiger. "Hello, I'm your head designer, Tigris.", she looks at me with her spotted eyes and says. This explains the extensive work to make her look like a "tiger". This is far beyong the Capital's beauty standard. This is what going over board in the Capital looks like.

"I'm the piece of meat you'll be designing today and for the rest of the next week, my name is Echo." I say to her as she laughs.

"You are District 7?", she asks and I nod, "Well, I have an idea of camouflage styling...what do you think?" I tell her my idea, she agrees and calls up Sestra's Stylist and they agree. I gave her my idea of anciet grecko-roman apperal, like I've read of in books about Ancient Greece. We also get to use a wreath of leaves. The plan goes that I represent the fall, with brown, orange, and a couple of green leaves. Sestra's representing spring, she'll have flowers and bright green leaves in her hair. She's going to have her hair dyed bright green and mines going to be red with yellow highlights.

While Tigris, was putting the clothes on me, I start to talk to her, "I'm sorry that I shot down your camouflague idea."

"Don't worry about it, It wasn't even my idea, why else would I ask you what you thought if I liked it. Honestly it was hideous, and I know that you Elites are also trained to know what would go together!", she laughs, and as it fades out, it turns into a purr. She finished in an hour or so, and we still have time.

"Tigris, this is better than I would've ever imagined!", I cheer. It looks like a humanly shaped tree. The drape I wear is brown, and the my hair is filled with orange autumn leaves, just for District 7, lumber. Each district has to be dressed to match what their district is leading supplier on. It shows me off more than I thought it would, it makes me look gorgeous, this is for sure to get me some sponsers.

"Oh, It's my pleasure Echo, but you can't go out there without the finishing touch.", she ties my mockingjay necklace around my neck and she blows some dirt off of it. "Now you might want to go to your platform you can socialize with the other tributes while you wait."

"Thank you again, Tigris!", I say when I hug her.

"Your welcome now let me take care of some things and I'll be in the stands watching, and remember when they announce your district untie your hair from right here.", she points it out and she sends me on my way. I feel and it's a well hidden ribbon that holds up some of the fake hair up. She says that it'll be a secret for now. When I do untie it, and if I really want to know what it is, I have to look at the screen where we will be shown. I make my way out of the room and straight into the backstage area where we will wait to be taken out and presented.

Chapter 4

I walk to my Chariot and I see that I'm the only one here except for District 2. I walk over to see that Excalibar's sitting down reading a magazine. "Oh, hey Jabberjay," he says while he puts the magazine down, "I haven't seen you in a long time, how have you been?" he stood up, and I noticed his costume. He looked like an over-exposed Peacekeeper, since he's from District 2, even though they are masonry, they're the district that supplies every district with Peacekeepers. He was just as exposed as me, and it makes me feel a little less self-concious since he seems to walk around like if he usually wears this amount of clothes.

"Oh, I've been good, and you?", I answer him.

"Wonderful, although, I think you're lying."

"What do you mean, I'm perfectly fine!", I burst out.

"I saw the despair in your eyes, and the blue feeling in your face when I passed by you. Just tell me what's wrong, Jabberjay.", he points out.

"Please! Stop calling me 'Jabberjay'!", I try to change the subject.

"Fine, Echo! Just tell me what's eating you? I'll understand if you want to keep it a secret, and if you still tell me, then I'll keep it on the down low. Just tell me.", Excalibar says, and I have to tell someone.

"Fine! I don't feel right about this Hunger Game with all the Elites. We've practiced this before, but never a real one. I need to protect my friend Sestra, so she can go home, but I also don't want to kill anyone. I know all of you guys, and your styles of fighting, and I know that I won't be able to go into this arena without having to kill one or two."

"Calm down, I won't tell anybody. Don't worry, I understand, I don't want to kill any one of you guys, either, but I have someone to go home to now. Her name is Carmenella. She's about your age. She's the best, there is no girl who can beat her." He goes on to tell of his District 2 love named Carmenella. That as soon as both their names are taken out of the reaping, he's going to marry her. I am really happy for him, I see him like an older brother, when my own isn't there, so that's why I look up to Excalibar, even though we rarely talk at all. I know that we think a lot alike, but sometimes we could be sitting next to each other, yet be a million miles apart. I hope he wins, I mean if I fail to protect Sestra and she dies, then I don't want to return home. I would probably form an allience and then when it's down to Excalibar and I, I will take myself out of the game, so he could continue on with his wedding.

More people start to arrive and I talk to District 3 tributes, Nessa and Darwin. They are some of the smartest people I know since they are from the technology district.

"Hello, Echo! How are you! It's been so long, and I would express to you my feeling of excitement to see you again, but I won't. If we were some place else, I would, but as soon as we're in the training ground we are enemies. I'm sorry, Echo!", Nessa says.

"It's okay, Nessa. As long as I know we were friends before the training.", I say and she nods. I leave them and find Sestra.

I walk over to her and she is talking to Nathine and Caitlyn, from district 6. They are both dressed like a mechanical mix of human and vehicles. The crowd starts to cheer so we are about to start. They start off with District 1-12, so we have time. "District 1!", Caesar Flickerman says. Crimson and Richest look like medieval King and Queen. "District 2!", Excalibar is trying to pump up the crowd while Persia sits down filing her nails, not caring at all. It gets the crowd to cheer more so they can get Persia's attention.

"Hey, when we're on the platform and they put the spotlight on us that's when we untie our hair.", Sestra reminds me.

"Okay.", I say, already knowing.

"My designer said that he and your designer have agreed on it."

"District 6", the announcer cheers out as well with the crowd, while District 6 is shown off. Sestra and I run onto the chariot's platform and wait to be called out, and we hold on to each other. I feel the spotlight hits us, and before Clauduis Templesmith announces us, the crowd goes wild, and then he announces us, we look out and release the tied hair and from our hair hangs glimmering extensions that reflects all the colors of our hair, and the crowd practically explodes with applause. I can see us on the monitor taking our poses and I make sure to wink and wave at people in the crowd.

I have another flashback to the day my two friends were being presented. They both looked ridiculus in big tree costumes. If they weren't in that situation they would've laughed about it, like we usually did. Every year District 7's tributes have to be dressed like trees, it's really irratating. I remember both of them hudling together, they were both scared, I can only imagine what they were thinking when they saw each other on the screen. I remember the pain of seeing them on the chariot, just like me.

I come back from my flashback and we're pulled in to the stage in front of the main building, and I watch everyone else pull in behind us. Out of everyone, I think we were the most popular. The President steps out, says his speech, the Panem anthem plays out, and we are taken back. I step off the chariot to be caught by Jareda. She looks beautiful in her mermaid costume. She was popular because of her relationship status with Caston. She told me how good I looked and that she would like to have an alliance with me when we are in the games. I told her I would think about it, but really I was going to deny her the first time I see her in the training center.

Sestra and I walk into the elevator, which is really weird for us because we never really see these back in the districts. We leave in order from 1-12. I hug everyone goodbye and that'll see them when we get the training center. When we exit the elevator Akiliya and Seran meet us at the door. They walk us to the dining room and we meet with Tigris, and Stone, Sestra's stylist, and we dine in the most biggest meal I've ever seen. Even though I'm an Elite, we don't get special treatment from anywhere, it just makes us a little bit more hated in the poorer districts in fact.

Compliments are thrown around the room, and Tigris calls attention to herself and says that the costumes were my idea, and everybody cheers. I throw back my praise saying that the hair, which was a main staple in our popularity, was the stylists idea and they should get even more praise then I. Then Stone says the hair thing was Sestra's idea, and she sits in the corner saying, "Oh stop it you!".

We all have a toast to congradulate all of ourselves, for our acting, and the stylist's styling. I enjoy the food, and for some reason this food tastes better just knowing that Sestra was going to live and go back home to her family.

If neither of us make it, I'd be fine with that. I can't return home, if Sestra died while I was protecting her. It would only give me worse flashbacks. Just being in this arena will give me the worst flashbacks ever, because I know that I'm going to have to kill someone eventually, I just hope it isn't Sestra.

Early in the morning, and I sneak out undetected from the room into the dining hall and I find that Akiliya was already sipping tea, and watching re-runs of the presentation. "Oh, Hello, Echo, where are you going without breakfast?" she asks.

I grab a plate and answer, "Nowhere, especially with this fine cuisine." I load on my plate yet have the decency to grab one napkin with a bread roll hidden inside it, for later. I gorge myself because Seran isn't around.

Akiliya asks me again. I pretend to have to much food in my mouth to answer. When she asks again I answer, "I was going up to the roof to see the sunrise."

"Echo, why do you want to see the sunrise?", she asks.

"Akiliya, you of all people should know why I want to see it.", she looks at me confused, "Since my name was called out in the reaping I've learned to appreciate smaller things, and the sunrise is something small. I've been watching it a lot lately. It reminds me that I might not see beautiful things anymore. It also reminds me of me. It's as bright as my own hope to survive these games, or to at least save Sestra and die doing it.", she looks me in the eyes and says I'm free to go.

Chapter 5

I walk into the elevator and I travel up to the top, and I see a edge where I can sit. I sit down and I notice I'm not alone. I turn to the greenhouse and I see movement from inside, I go in and ask, "Is anybody in here?", no answer, I turn around and I hear a pot fall and shatter. I turn around to see that it was Derma from District 5. Poor thing stares at me like if she was a deer standing in front of a train.

"Hi, Derma.", I say, "Come on and join me. I was about to watch the sunrise. I walk over to the ledge and sit down and I see sunrays shoot up from the horizon. I notice that Derma, without making any noise, already made her way over to my side and looked down really scared. "Derma, It's okay, if you fall you bounce right back, remember how strong the forcefields are.". It seems to calm her down. I pull out the napkin I hid and I take the bread roll from it, and hand it to her.

She takes it and eats to her hearts content, "Thank you, Echo!", she says happily.

"No problem," a comfortable silence takes over and I continue, "Isn't it beautiful, Derma, the sunset. How much it shines. It's hard to believe to another planet our sun is just a distant star?" She nods wispfully. "I continue on looking at this momentues glory and makes me think that I'm never going to see it after next week.", I say and let the sunlight get soaked into my skin.

"Echo, what do you mean that after next week you'll never see it again, don't you plan on winning?", she finally says.

I nod and say, "No, not one bit, I couldn't live in a world where I had to kill my friends, besides I'm gonna live up until Sestra is the winner, and then I can close my eyes, take in my last breath, and just slip away.", I finish and she looks at me sadly. "What's the matter, Derma?".

"I can't live in a world like this either, but I know that I have to get back to my mom, I'm practically all she has. Don't you think it's selfish for someone to sacrifice themselves for someone else. I mean you have family that wants you to get back home."

"That's right, Derma, but my family has everything they need, they won't miss me as much as Sestra's dad is gonna miss her. She's all he has too."

"But it's still wrong, we still want to see you again, we don't want you to die in the arena. We love you, and it's your responsibility to live. I'm planning to survive the three days with Nathine, you and Sestra can join us."

"Derma what are you talking about we're going into a fight to the death where only...", she looks at me and her eyes are filled with honest innocence. She really doesn't know that only one of us is going too survive. She must think this is just another free-for-all, where many people can win as long as they pass the three-day criteria. I find that I should explain to her what's really going on. "Derma, do you know how the Hunger Games work?"

"Yes, they give us three days, and everyone who makes it the end of the last day wins. That's why I made a plan, that if we..."

"Derma, that's a free-for-all, this is the Hunger Games. These two things are different. In the free-for-alls we don't get hurt, but here, we can die."

"No, I know, but my plan is for everyone to drop their weapons and be at a stand-still until the last day is done. That way we can all go home."

"Derma! That's not how it works. There isn't a time limit here, we die when we die!", I yell and her eyes get bigger. "There is only one winner out of 24. They would never allow more than one person to win. If we don't kill each other, then they will. I would rather you all fall at my hands, than to a bunch of evil Capital people who pitted us against each other in the first place."

I look at her and she's scared, and she's about to cry. She is to innocent to be thrown into an arena with all her friends. She didn't even know that only one of us can live. I close my eyes and I continue, "Derma, I'm sorry. I thought you had the right to know."

"No, you're right, Echo. I have to stop being so naive. I knew how this worked, but I was just hoping it was just a game. That as soon as we're in the Arena, Psy's(our Elite trainer) voice came on and told us that we just have to complete the three day free-for-all."

"Just a game...", I think about it. "I know a song named 'Just a Game'. Don't worry Derma, if things go wrong, then I'll make things right, and then you'll have more of a chance of winning then me. Just be thankful for all the days you have with Nathine." I open my eyes and I look to find that Derma is gone. Someone who could be that quite even when she's really close, will be a worthy adversery to me. I go back to the the 7th floor, take a shower, and I get dressed and ready for the training.

When Sestra and I get down to the training floor, the instructor tells us the rules and sends us to training. The problem is that Sestra's trying everything she hasn't been taught and she's making herself look like prey to everyone else. "Sestra, what are you doing? Keep it up and you'll be the first one to go down in the games."

"Sorry, I just wanted to see if I could do all these other things.", she whispers to me.

"Well stop it, show them that you're not completely weak, there are axes over in that station, show them what you've got.", She walks over to the station, with everyone's eyes on her she picks up an two axes. She throws it and it gets the rubber dummie, in the neck nearly severing it off the fake body. Now she has everyone's attention. She moves on to the other stations and I start to pay attention to others.

Crimson and Richest are sword fighting and both of them are really good. Excalibar is hitting moving targets left and right by throwing knives. Persia and Derma are doing the same with arrows. Nathine is piercing fake bodies with spears. Caston and Jareda are learning how to camouflague. They both play around and paint each other, laughing and giggling. I already know their strengths though. Jareda's got her mace, and Caston can use a pair of iron claws to polverise wooden targets into tooth picks.

Darwin and Nessa are sticking together with traps. Depending on the arena, Darwin can turn a normal wire, into an electrical trap. I remember he taught me how when we were in our second free-for-all. Issac is tossing 100 pound weights around like nothing. I look over to see Artimis is using poison darts and Jason is using a barrier shield. A gigantic shield that could be used to crush things and to protect yourself. Then I notice that people are still waiting for me to do something so I look on the weapons wall, for my weapon of chose, a bullwhip. It's exterior was leather, but the inside was flexible steel, strong enough to make marks in boulders. I pick it up and I walk over to a target station. I crack it once and destroy one, crack it again and make a slash mark across a tree they have for climbing, and everyone looks in awe. We all have something special, but nobody has ever seen my full potentiel with a whip.

Days go by and I figure out that Juno, Urwin, and Jenten are really good trappers. Caitlyn doesn't seem to do anything, but I've seen her throw knives before, so I know not to take her for granted. The day to work for our final scores is finally here. We perform in front of the gamemakers, and get scored from one to twelve. The higher the number the more likely you are to succeed, but it also makes you a target in the arena.

Excalibar comes out looking accomplished which worries me. It came for Sestra's turn and she told me she was going to try to impress them with the axes. When she was done she hurried to the elevator without even a glance toward me. I walk in to the main room where all the gamemakers sit and watch. "State your name, age, and continue with whatever your going to do.", the head gamemaker asks.

"Echo Ivy, 16, and I will need targets for whipping.", I say to them. He presses a button and targets pop up from out of nowhere. I pull the whip quickly from the rack. I crack the whip one way break a target and use it to destroy another one. I whip it everywhere and I can hear wood being destroyed. I felt that I was getting a good score, until I was disrupted by the gamemaker's "thank you", and a little bit of applause. I walk out, and I go back to the room and I await my score.

I pass by all the following District tributes, and I wish them good luck. I walk to the elevator, but I'm stopped by District 12's tributes, Juno and Jenten. "How'd you do in there!", Juno asks me.

"It went good. I think."

"Don't worry, you'll probably get a higher score than us.", Jenten laughs.

"Thanks you two, but I should be getting back, bye. Break a leg!", I say as I walk away from them. Once inside I press the button four on accident. I press seven right after so I don't have to make the stop at District 4's floor, but the elevator sends me there anyways. At the door for District 4, stands Jareda and her District 4 mentor, Mags. Jareda waves me in, but I deny. The elevator door doesn't close quick enough so she pulls me in.

"Echo, meet my District mentor, Mags. Mags this is Echo, from District 7."

"Hello.", I say to her, she returns the greeting and leaves. Mags looks like she's been in a lot of traumatic situations. I remember Jareda told me about her though. She was a powerful swimmer, and can make a fish hook out of anything. I 'm not sure which year she won, I think it was the 7th or the 13th annual Hunger Game.

"How'd you do?", Jareda turns to me and says.

"I'm not sure, I'm hoping I did good."

"I know I did great. You wanna know what I did?", she says. We're not supposed to know what the others did, due to the fact that that would be an unfair advantage but I already know wht her skill was. Before I can answer she tells me, "I did sword play!"

"Oh, that's new."

"I know, what did you do?"

"I used the whip like I usually do. Of course I'm going to need the whip in the arena. Hopefully, they give me a strong resiliant one."

"Well, of course, you wouldn't want to disappoint your ex-girlfriend.", she laughs. We talk a bit more, and after I decide to leave. I finally get to my floor, and release the breathe I've been holding in since I got into the elevator on the fourth floor.

Later that night, we all gathered in the Television room, and we anticipated the scores for District 7. It came on starting with Sestra's score. "Sestra Celenova...9", the announcer, Claudius Templesmith, says. I was so relieved because that meant I didn't have to kill her. Then came mine "Echo Ivy...11".

Chapter 6

I could not believe I got an eleven. I usually get an 8 or 7 when our Elite Leaders scores us in our free-for-all training. Except for Trenton from District 8, and Crimson from District 1, I was the only one who got an 11. The smallest score came from Clydessa from District 9, she got a score of 5. Persia, Excalibar, Alex(9), Kessie(10), Nathine, and Caitlyn got 10. The boy tribute from District 1, Richest, got 8. Artimis got 8 while her brother, Jason, got 9. Everyone else got a score of 6-10.

The room was filled with cheers, everyone comemerated Sestra and I for our scores. Now is where it gets a little bit more difficult. We have to find out what our strategy is, and then we have to ace our interviews with Ceaser Flickerman in front of all Panem so we can get sponsers. "We'll tomorrow is going to be really big, in winning the games, so we'll have to take night hours to talk about the strategy." Akiliya gets my attention and answers my question of when we were going to strategize before I even asked it.

"Well, can I go leave my district token in my room first?", Akiliya nods and Sestra is on her way. Her district token isn't like mine, it's something her father made her in his carpentry shop back in District 7. When she returns we continue our meeting. "Okay, so number one thing is to find a resource to sustain you for the rest of the games. We don't know what type of field they are going to give you so you have to be careful with everything. Remember don't step off your plate until the gong rings out."

"Or what?" Sestra interupts Akiliya.

"Or you'll get blown into itty bitty pieces!", she answers quickly. She continues "Water is a main thing, do either of you know how to hunt?", she asks and both our hands go up. "Well, make sure, when you run for the Cornucopia, to grab a knife, your weapon of choice, and a supplies backpack.", she says ending our meeting, and sends us off to bed. "Remember tomorrow, is where we will train you seperately for the interview, so get some sleep and be prepared for tomorrow."

I walk Sestra to her room and hug her goodnight, but it could also possibly be goodbye, because two days from now well be running in arena trying to survive. In my room I do last minute showering and prepping, so the prep team wouldn't be so troubled. I go to sleep and have a dream where Persia and I are allies again in the first free-for-all.

"You think you're going to like being a war leader?", she asks with her arrow positioned to kill a rabbit for our lunch.

"I'm not sure how I feel about it, and you? What do you think?", I ask her.

"I honestly don't love it, my whole life I hated the Capital for sending my sister into the games. She died on the first day in a fight near the cornucopia."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be, it's the Capital's fault, not yours.", she shoots the arrow and gets the rabbit clean through the eyes.

"Do you ever feel like they chose us to be Elites for a reason, Persia?", I asked her.

"I kind of do, I think almost everyone here has lost someone they loved to the games."

"That's possibly true, but I don't get why they didn't chose my brother to come. He lost five of his friends in the games. I lost my two closest friends to the most recent one though."

"Well, I'm glad they didn't chose your brother. The way you describe him he sounds like a real jerk. If they had chosen him, then I would've never met anyone as smart as you, or as ticklish as you!", she says poking my stomach and laughing. That was the day I knew I could always depend on Persia.

Akiliya wakes me up, and tells me to go with Tigris so I could get dressed and then get ettiqute training. I walk into the room and get rushed by my Prep team. They are so weak minded it's laughable. I wonder if it has ever crossed their pea-sized minds that they are just dressing me so I can get killed. I hear them talking about me being Tigris' last tribute to adorn. "You know that, you are the last person to get worked on by Tigris?" Harmonio asks me.

"No, I didn't, why, is she getting fired...or quitting?", I repeat the thought in my head.

"She's getting fired.", Andreas said.

"Why?", I say sadly. Out of everyone I've meet here in the Capital, Tigris seemed like the only logical, kind-hearted person. "Does she go overboard with costumes when she's not supposed to?"

"No, It's because she's getting...old, President Snow said that everyone has to be young and beautiful to represent how beautiful the tributes are, or something like that.", Calpurnia answers.

"How old is she?"

"She's thirty-five!", Andreas exclaims, and Calpurnia gasps. Only in the Capital can you get fired for being thirty-five.

"If we get fired at thirty-five, then I've only got two years left!", Calpurnia says, and decide to complement her.

"Really, you don't look a day over twenty-two!", I say. This makes her blush and Harmonio laughs.

"Yeah she doesn't look a day over twenty-two...thousand!", he laughs and so do I. Once they're done with the prepping I get up off the table and I thank them for everything and I say I hope to see them in the distant future. As I'm about to walk out the door, Harmonio stops me. "Here give this to Tigris,", he hands me a card, "we don't have the heart to give it to her in person...and good luck out there kid!"

"Thank you!", I say as some of them shed a tear. I hug them all to show them I don't hate them(entirely). I walk down the hall into Tigris' room. There she is with her face buried in her hands weeping.

"Tigris, I'm here." I say quietly. I put the card down on a table and we get started. She has a whole thing with my hair again, she start putting things in there. I'm dressed in a brown suit with a bright green shirt and vest. My hair is back to normal, but she said that she concealed some glimmering stuff in there so I have to shake it a little.

I'm about ready to leave, but I remember the card. I take it off the table and hand it to her. She opens it and I could see her spotted eyes go left to right, and she starts to cry again. I give her big hug and tell her that she has done well over the years, and that she has done her job well today because the District 7 tributes are going to win. She calms down and starts "Echo, you are one of the best tributes I have ever had the honor to work with. Good luck out there, Echo, and don't forget to shake your hair!"

I walk out and everyone is in their seats already, we are about to begin the interviews. Caesar Flickerman steps out and the crowd cheers. I've been in front of a crowd this big only once. When all the Elites were to protect the winner of the Hunger Games three years ago, but this time we have to talk. He goes on with a couple of jokes to warm up the crowd. Then he tells us that girls first and then boys, and in order of our districts.

Crimson goes up first, her gold dress shines in the spotlight. She has a whole competion with Caeser about whose hair is softer. Richest goes up and he's so nervous he barely talks, but he does tell everybody what he's going to be trying to get as soon as he's in the arena. A pair of iron claws is his choice. Persia goes up and the silver black dress does wonders for her. Caeser asks, "So, a pretty young girl like you must have a boyfriend, am I right?", the crowd goes balistic at this question.

She answers, "Yes, I do, he is from District 2. His name is Morson, and I'm going to win this to go home and see him!", the crowd awes for a moment, and Persia and I have locked in eyes, I can tell that she's doing this so she can get people on her side. This "Morson" probably doesn't even exist. I've known her long enough to expect this from her. Excalibar is next and he tells the story of his future fiancee, Carmenella. He gets a little bit more people on his side. District 3 interviews blow past, and then Caeser announces District 4, and this one is a suprise to me.

"Okay, now moving on to District 4, but can I have them both come up here!", Caeser says and Jareda and Caston both walk up hand in hand. "You two are an item, am I right!", he asks and they nod. "How long have you two been together?"

"11 months!", answers Caston.

"Actually, we've been together for 1 month, but we've had feelings for each other long before!", Jareda points out.

"That's adorable! Caston here includes the months you weren't even together!", Caeser cheers. The crowd is hooked. Now it's my job to get these people on to my side right after them. "Well, going into a game where only one can come out alive what is your strategy?"

"We aren't entirely sure, I know that I want her to win.", Caston says.

"And I want him to win!", Jareda says ready to cry.

"I'm gonna get the iron claws to protect Jareda from any attacker."

"And I'm going to get my mace and bury it in anyone who tries to touch him.", she says making it sound like a warning. She was never really good at threats. I laugh a little louder than I thought I would've and they turn to look at me. The rest of the tributes turn and also smile a bit.

"Well, I wish you both the best of luck...", Caesar says. "Ladies and Gentlemen the tributes of District 4, Caston Segwada and Jareda Asleen!" the crowd cheers.

Everyone goes by quick, then it's Sestra's turn. "Sestra Celenova, come on up!" Caesar yells out with joy. "Sestra, how are you doing?"

"I'm fine and you?", she answers sweetly. The green short dress she's wearing is shining in the limelight she's in right now.

"Good, good, so you volunteered when they called out your friend's name in the reaping?"

"Yes I did, I came on my own because I owe Echo one, so while I'm here I'm going to protect him.", she says with a lot of confidence in her voice. They go on a small banter and he finally comes to the final question.

"And what's your strategy going into the games?"

"I plan on getting my hands on axes, getting Echo out of the bloody Cornucopia fight, and letting the other Tributes eliminate each other in order to protect Echo."

"Well your times up, so I wish you the best of luck, and I hope you succeed, Ladies and Gentlemen, Sestra Celenova!", crowd cheers and then pause and I hear my name. "Echo Ivy, you're next!"

Chapter 7

I put on my best smile and climb up the steps. "Hello, Nature!", he says mocking me, for the costume on the first day.

"Hello Annoncer man!", I joke around, and I get the crowd to laugh. I don't really understand why, but I take it as a win.

"Oh, well that was an astonishing splash you made during the presentation last week!", they show me up on the monitor, and I have to smile.

"Yes, but I couldn't have done it without my stylist, Tigris!", She stands up in the crowd, and takes a bow while a couple of people clap. I'm not kidding at least one couple clapped. I shake my hair because I remember that's what Tigris told me to do.

"Whoa! What was that?", Caesar cheered and clapped.

"What was what?", I say like I didn't know.

"Your hair just glimmered! Shake your hair again!", he cheered me on.

_Hookline and sinker_, I thought, "Okay!", I shook my hair and the crowd went crazy with excitment, and I could hear my name being hollered out. I stood up and made sure everyone in the stands surrounding us got some, including the tributes. Once I look down I can see that different colored petals are falling out of my hair. I could hear people whistling, and shouting, and just have a heart attack of fun. I would do more but I felt dizzy.

"Wow, was that Tigris' idea?"

"Yes it was!"

"Wow, Tigris, take a a bow!", she does, and this time everyone cheers, and I see that she wipes a tear off her face. "Now on to more important matters!", he calms down the audience, "What is your strategy?"

"I can honestly say it's to stay alive, until the final two, where I will sacrifice myself to send that girl home!" I say pointing at Sestra.

"Ah, I see the both of you are allies from the beginning."

"Yes, we are, she's like my little sister, and she has so much riding up on this game."

"Like?"

"Well, personal things."

"I understand, what weapon are you going to use!"

"This might seem a little strange, but I am diving for a whip." I was correct, it did sound odd. The audience looks at each other, confused, so I decided to turn it into a joke. "Yeah, my ex-girlfriend says that I was really good when it came to the whip!" the crowd loses it and tears are streaming from every eye.

"Oh, my, well you are delightful! I hope you succeed in all your plans and may the odds be ever in your favor, now give the crowd what they want! Ladies and Gentlemen, Echo Ivy!", while he finishes his last line, I shake my hair vigorously, to release the petals all over. I step down and find that some people who worked to get people on their side have just lost them to me, hopefully no one shows me up...no one does.

The ceremony is soon over, and we are allowed to go back to our rooms, to get ready for tomorrow. I say good-bye for the last time to some people and we get to our room.

"Are you ready for tomorrow?", Sestra asks me.

"I am prepared, and you?", I question her.

"I feel ready to kill anyone who tries to hurt you, Echo."

"Sestra, I don't want you to try and protect me, these people are Elites like me, we're meant to be able to kill anyone."

"You've showed me enough and I already know what some of their weaknesses are, for example, Crimson can barely toss a spear because of her back problems."

"Sestra, we Elites are world renouned actors, we are trained for everything even tricking our opponents."

"I know you don't want me to get hurt or killed, but I owe you for when were younger. Remember when that gigantic tree almost killed me.", hearing her say these words take me back to that day.

I had just came back from the Elite choosing, and the training was done. Clair and I had came back, and I went straight to helping my dad with working on some trees. My dad's friend was helping him and he had his daughter, Sestra, there with him. She was only eleven, she wasn't working she was only messing around, and she had decided to take a rest where we cut down the trees. I heard a tree crack and I saw that the stupid idiot was still under the tree. I tossed everything aside and ran to her. She had just noticed the tree and was frozen with fear, when I pulled her off the ground and tossed myself over her and we fell a foot away from where the tree landed.

Ever since that day she has been my shadow. I taught her some things I knew. She learned how to survive, and now she wants to repay me the favor. "There is one, big difference between then and now!" I shout at her, "Back then I lived when I saved you, and in order for you to save my life I have to win and you have to lose. Losing means death!" I yell out at her. Before she could respond Akiliya and Seran came in to say their good-byes.

"I want you two to know that it has been an honor to escort you both." Seran said with a sad tone, but she's still part of the Capital, so she insults us right after, "Don't die, if you two die, then I'm demoted to another District like 12, eeww!"

"We love you too, Seran." Sestra says. Seran nods and leaves us with a smile. Akiliya says good-bye to us as well.

"You two might do your last minute prepping tonight. Remember that you two have to conceal yourselves. Pack, hunting gear, weapon, and water. I'll be watching and getting you things from your sponsers. Good luck you two!", Akiliya gives Sestra and I a hug, and before she leaves salutes me.

"Sestra will see you right after the games are done." I say because she's the one who will win. Sestra ignores me, and hugs her back and leaves to her room.

I walk off to my room, and there I take off the glimmering hair extensions. I take a shower, and pull out a tray of almonds from my draw and eat to sleep. I have another nightmare, where I suffocate Sestra and win. It's followed by the dream of when I met Excalibar. We were in the middle of our third free-for all battle. He just popped out of the water where I was fishing. The Arena was lake surrounded by forestry.

"Hey, you're not Crimson!", he acted surprise.

"Yeah, I've noticed!", I was still surprised and scared he'd knock me out.

"You're funny! I haven't seen you around the grape vine, what's your name again?"

"I'm Echo, and you're Excalibar!", I just realized who he was.

"I'm also really wet, come on in and join me!", he grabs my hand and pulls me in, and he starts to laugh.

"Ah, I don't...know...how to swim!", I shouted and kicked around. I remember hitting the bottom of the shallow water and seeing him coming down to save me. He could of knocked me out, but instead he saved me from drowning. We later formed an alliance and I ended up winning.

The next morning I wake up and see that the outfit that I'm going to wear. It was just normal clothes with special properties. The shirt was supposed to change tempurature according to the weather. The sweater was to keep in heat, well more than a usual one would. I put it down and I leave to a room where a hovercraft awaits all the tributes. I grab on to the ladder to be lifted up, but a shock freezes me and I can't move. A Peacekeeper puts a needle into me, and I ask him what it's for. He tells me that it's my tracker. I'm lifted in and I'm strapped in with everyone inside. I stay quite, because I know that if I talk it'll be harder to kill these people, my friends.

We arrive to a base and we are sent to our launch room, where we await to be sent into the arena. I go inside the room and I see that Tigris is there. She holds out her hands for a hug and I oblige her.

"Hey, you forgot something in the prep room." She holds out my mockingjay necklace.

"Thank you, Tigris!" I was relieved that she had found it for me. She puts it around my neck, and then a loud booming voice sounds, "60...59...", the countdown has just started.

"You better get on the platform quick!" Tigris says, and I follow her directions and when I get on it a glass tube surrounds me. "Good luck, Kid! Make me proud!", she says before I'm launched off. I rise to the top and I see all the other tributes.

Our platforms is in the middle of a meadow. I can see that the trees and mountains surrounds us. I see the golden cornucopia down in the middle. The meadow decents inword toward it. I look around I see that Sestra is a couple people away from me. I turn to look for Persia, and then I hear an explosion.

Chapter 8

I turn around and I see that Sestra's wooden ball, her district token, has landed a couple feet away from my platform. I look at Sestra to see if she threw it. She was gone. Then I realize that the explosion came from her platform. I hear the people next to her shriek out. I could see that something was splattered all over the floor. "NO!" I yell out. I fall to my knees on the platform. I see that the wooden ball was scorched.

"10...9...8...", the booming voice announces. I hear Persia shouting out for me to get up. I didn't know what to do. I get up and my face is filled with tears. Sestra was dead. "Let the 55th annual Hunger Games begin!" and a large ring is announced, and I start to run the decent into the Cornicopia. I make it into the inside of it where I grab a bag of axes, whip, and a pack. When I turn around I see Richest coming at me with the iron claws he wanted. I grab an axe instantly and throw it, I see him stop straightaway and he falls to the ground with in axe in his head. I run, pull the axe out of him, and run up the incline.

Halfway up I see that Clydessa is in front of me with an arrow drawn and pointed at my skull. I stop and I see a knife fly pass my head and get her in the eye. She fires it, and I drop to the ground to avoid it. The arrow bulleted passed me and gets Caitlyn, who threw the knife at her in the first place, in the eye. The phrase "an eye for an eye" has never rung so true.

I'm on the floor when Derma darted and tripped over me. We lock eyes and she hurries to get up and darts into the forest with a pack. I get up and run and a barrage of knives flies towards me, all thrown by Juno from District 12. She chases me into the forest where I hide in a bush. She stops because she knows it's better to go back to the clearing rather to take me on, the boy who scored an eleven, the boy from District 7 where they specialize in forests.

I see her turn around only to get a sword lodged in her and go through her completely. I see that it was Darwin from District 3. Behind him comes Issac, from District 5, and he breaks Darwin's neck with his enourmous hands. He kneels down near Juno's body and he picks up her head. She isn't dead, yet. She speaks, "Issac, I love you!" she coughs, with blood filling her mouth.

"I love you too, Juno!" he crys out, he could barely be heard from all the tears. I couldn't bear to see my friend like this. Juno's head turns lifelessly and her eyes lock on to where I am. There is no more life in them. Issac puts her head down, and closes her eyes. I couldn't bear it. I sneak out and walked behind him quietly, and I throw an axe. I close my eyes and I hear a loud thump. I turn around and I see that Lilia from District 8, saw the whole thing. I expect an arrow or a spear from her, but she just nods at me and she dashes into the forest.

I get the axe from Issac's head, and I speed off into the forest. I find a clearing, and a tree with a hole in the base big enough for me to slip into. I crawl in and I sit with my knees to my chest. I take in all of what just happened. I killed two of my friends, and led four others into their doom.

My sobs seem loud to me, but no one finds me so I'm fine. "Sestra...how...why?", I crying under my breath. She's dead. How could this happen, we warned her about the landmines. I'm crying more, and if I'm crying this much for Sestra, I can only imagine losing Persia. That would kill me.

Hours go by, and I see that Crimson comes into the clearing. She takes a wire out of her pack, and she climbs the tree in no time. She comes back down and I realize she just set a trap. She put a bag of apples in the middle. I see her sneak over to the side and kneel down.

I crawl out the hole, quickly and undetected. I get up and bullet for the bag and she runs straight into the clearing. I grab the bag of apples and run further into the forest. I find a dirt path, and start to run it, and she runs right behind me. I've known Crimson for a long time, and I know that she can run for miles, and she won't stop until she catches her taget, which right now, is me. I could tell she was mad because the trap didn't work on me, and I took her 5 apples. I hear a crack, a familiar one, so I slow down enough to see a tree fall in front of me. My Elite training kicked in, and I jump over it, landing with enough momentum to keep running. I've seen Crimson train, and she's one person who couldn't do a perfect jumps like Artimis, from District 11, Lilia, from District 8, and I could. She comes to a quick hault, and falls over the fallen log.

After an hour of running I slow down and decide that no one else is chasing me. I walk straight into a patch of shorter trees that are familiar to me. I also notice a certain type of moss that only grows near water. I hear 10 cannons fire. Each cannon represents each tribute that has died. It has started to get a little less brighter so I campout in a higher tree. I find a fork in the high branches and set up. I see a little opening in the leaves where I have perfect view of the sunset.

I open my pack and pull out the sleeping bag. I also find a bag of jerky, dried fruits and berries, a pair of sunglasses, bandages, rubbing alcohol, water, and matches. I get ready to go to sleep so I close my eyes. I take in everything again. All those dead faces, Crimson, my friend, angry at me and trying to kill me now. I see the Capital seal appear in the sky and I see the faces of the deceased once again. It starts in order.

_**District 1: Richest Wave**_

_**District 3: Darwin Bolt**_

_**District 3: Nessa Wire**_

_**District 5: Issac Stroid**_

_**District 6: Caitlyn Calliton**_

_**District 7: Sestra Celenova**_

_**District 9: Clydessa Dardez**_

_**District 9: Alex Zecko**_

_**District 12: Jenten Mao**_

_**District 12: Juno Badge**_

I wake up the next morning, and I crawl back down I go looking for a river, but instead I find a tiny stream. I go up the current and find a big lake. I look around to see if anyone was around. I see that across from me, my friend Kessie Firstina, from District 10 is drinking water near the lakes edge. I would call her over but I don't know if she's dangerous, or if someone is around to kill me as soon as I call her.

From behind her I see bushes rustling. I see that she notices, and she starts to run. I see four people run out of the bushes and chase her down. I couldn't help it, I have to help Kessie, she was my friend, and they were about to kill her. I see that her assailants are Caston and Jareda, Nathine, and Derma. They all have daggers in their hands and they playing with Kessie. They surround her and each take a turn cutting her. I stop running because of they see me they'll do the same. I see that Kessie tries to make another escape. This time Derma, being as quick as she is, jumps on her and takes Nathine's spear and impales her. "Stop it, NO!", I yell out on accident. Kessie's cannon fires.

Chapter 9

I see that they've spotted me, I turn to run, and I can hear them shouting out "Get him, quick!". I keep running into the forest, and soon enough they stop, and I've lost them. I find a nice big tree and I climb it. At the top, I find a fork of branches, and I sit down.

I take a sip of the water I have and I eat an apple. It starts to get dark. I doze off a little, and when I wake up I see someone in front of me. I take an axe and my hand gets stopped by someone else. _This is it, I lost the games, I'm never going to fulfill Sestra's wish of me winning._ The person behind me puts the sunglasses on me and covers my mouth. The sunglasses let me see better in the dark. I see that the person in front of me is Artimis, and the person covering my mouth is Jason.

"Quiet." Artimis whispers and points down. I see that it's Caston and his alliance are walking under us. They are talking about Kessie. "Oh please don't kill me!" Nathine mocks Kessie's begging.

"Please, I could help you find Echo quicker! Just don't kill me!" Derma follows, "She was so pathetic!" she laughs right after. I feel the immense pressure of throwing an axe in her head, but Jason sensed this and he gripped my hand harder.

They soon pass and Jason releases me. "Artimis, Jason, what are you guys doing?" I whisper.

"Well we were walking when we saw their torch so we climbed up the tree and found you here." Artimis says.

"You were about to kill Artimis, so I had to stop you, and sorry about covering your mouth, I just didn't want you to blow our cover." Jason says.

"Oh that's understandable, but I thought you guys were going to kill me, that's why I raised the axe." I explain.

"It's okay we get it." Artimis says. "Sorry about Sestra."

"Yeah, if my sister was stupid enough to blow herself up I would go crazy to." Jason laughs, strangely, I don't find this funny.

"Jason!" Artimis hushes him, "I told you already she didn't blow herself up!"

"What do you mean she didn't blow herself up?" I said.

"I saw the whole thing, Jareda told her to drop the ball, because it would've held her back from running, so she did and the rest is history." she reveals to me that Sestra's death wasn't an accident. All my feelings for Jareda were gone as soon as she finished telling me this. I wanted to get her in the head with an axe.

"I'm going to chop her head off."

"Whoa, take a chill pill, it's to late we gotta get some sleep." Jason grabs my shoulder. The anthem plays and the Capital seal appears in the sky. One face appears tonight.

_**District 10: Kessie Firstina**_

The anthem plays out and the seal disappears. Jason and Artimis take a seperate fork then me and they fall asleep. I go to sleep right after them and I have a dream about Kessie. When it came to the training sessions in the Capital, we were always a team. She was the first person to even talk to me when we first arrived at the Capital. She was my first friend here. She might've planned to sell me out but I know she was scared, and she had to do anything to live. They way it sounds, they were looking for me.

I wake up early and I pack up and slowly crawl down the tree. I find Artimis on a branch near mine, and Jason is on another branch in another tree. I crawl up to Artimis and I leave an axe. I start to walk towards the big mountains that are really far away. I take a path that is covered in trees, there is no way someone can find me through here. Although I could be wrong. I constantly hear twigs snapping, but I think that It could just be the gamemakers trying to scare me. I walk for hours and I can see that some of the trees start to thin down. Trees start to turn into saplings and it soon turns into plain dirt on the floor. I hear something whizzing around in the air, and I can feel fear building up in me.

I start to slow down and I come to a stop so I can rest. I scan the area I'm in but I highly doubt that anyone will find me here, even though it's a clear wide plain. I drink some of the water I've collected. I eat another apple and ly down, I close my eyes for a second, and I hear something bullet through the air, and land right next to me. I open my eyes sit up and I examine a sharp disc that is sticking out of the ground. The bulleting noise is back and I jump out of the way. Another disc lands right under me. I look up and see many more flying towards me. I grab my things and start to run back towards the forest. A disc hits the floor in front of me, and breaks through a rock. I come to a screeching halt and run in another direction. I'm running and I can see the tree line coming up. Something cuts my side, and I see that a disc lands in front of me covered in blood. My blood. I start to push myself further and I am running in a zig-zagging lines.

Another one cuts my ear, and soon one lands straight in my calf. I stop and it starts to burn as if it were on fire. I look at it and it's turning red hot. I fall on the floor yeling in pain. I see another one flying towards my head, I roll over and it lands near my head. This disc is different, once it hit the floor, it doesn't stop spinning. It was digging into the ground. The disc finally starts to burn so much I grab and yank it out as quick as I can. I yell and I get up and run into the forest which is only a couple feet away. When I get to the first tree a disc cuts right through a tree, and it falls almost hitting me on its way down. My leg still burns but I jump over the tree and run further into the forest. I soon stop hearing the discs after they've cut down about ten trees.

I'm exhausted and just let myself fall straight onto the floor. I can feel my calf still burning, and the powerful pain is pulsing in my ears. I reach in my pack and I grab the anti-bacterial cream and some bandages. I bite down on my whip and I rub on the cream. It burns and I want to scream, but I bite down on the whip harder, knowing that I might be within earshot of one of the other tribute. I wrap my leg in the bandages, and make sure it stops bleeding.

Chapter 10

The burning pain turns into a cooling sensation. The pounding pain in my ears starts to go away, an I allow myself to go to sleep on the floor, hopefully no one passes by. I'm dead wrong. I hear speaking coming from the other side of some shrubs. I get up and try to run but my leg is still weak. I lean on a tree and start to climb as fast as I can. "Come on I heard it from over hear!", I hear a familiar voice. It's Nathine, and if he's here then the rest of their group shouldn't be to far away. I hurry up the tree, and try to conceal myself in one of the branches.

"What did you hear exactly!", Jareda asks him.

"It was a really loud thump, I mean huge, sort of like an earthquake!", he shouts and pushes his way through the bushes. "Whoa!", he exclaims as he sees the fallen trees.

"What in the world!", Derma shouts out kind of laughing. Their faces are filled with shock. "What did the gamemakers do this for!".

"Probably for that!", Caston yells out pointing at the tree I'm in. "Come on out I already saw you, Echo!". _How did he see me?_

"Hi, you guys!", I sit up on the branch. "What are you guys doing over here?", I shout down from the branch.

"Nothing just trying to get rid of as many competetors as we can!", Nathine says. "I thought you'd be a little bit more difficult to find but you've proven me wrong once again!".

"When was the first time Nathine!", I ask with a smile.

"That day in the third free-for-all! When you trapped us all in the electrified lake, by setting the trees around us on fire! Then I thought you would get a score lower than ours, but no, you out did yourself and got an 11! That makes me really proud to know you!", he says grabbing Derma's bow and arrows. I prepare my axes for a fling when a parachute comes sailing into the tree with me. They all notice, and Nathine is ready to shoot, and I jump to the branch above me where it landed. The arrow flies and hits the trunk. I look down and see that Jareda is jumping on to the tree and starting to climb. I open the package and see that it's a cross bow. I tie it to my wrist, and load it with one of it's many arrows. I point it down and the group sees it, but Jareda is still to busy climbing to see it. The yell out,"Jareda , come back down! Quick!", I look for her in the branches below me and I start to aim. I finally have a lock on her, and then an arrow scratches my cheeck. I look down and I see Derma is getiing ready to launch another one. I jump to the next tree and she misses.

I keep skipping into different trees, and I try to escape, but they follow me. I land on a flimsy branch and I fall down to the forest floor. I tumble and I start ot run again. More arrows are flying and I turn around to fire one of my own, and it gets Nathine in the shoulder. This stops Derma from chasing but Jareda and Caston continue on. I shoot back and get Caston in the shin, but it doesn't stop him. I run and I hear an awful high pitched tweeting from above me. There was a nest of bright colored birds, I'm guessing these were Capital Muttations. They were candy pink, with beaks that looked really sharp. I run ahead of it and when I see that Caston and Jareda were almost underneath the nest of the swarming candy birds I shoot an arrow into it and it falls to the ground in front of them. The birds swarm the two of them, and they start to get stabbed by the birds, I only watch for a minute and leave before the birds notice me.

I run away and come to a stop when I hear the Capital seal appears and the anthem plays, but there is no one dead tonight. I'm tired of running, and before I climb the tree to go to sleep, I clean the wound that the arrow made on my face. The next morning, I wake up and a sudden thought hits me. I whisper to myself, "The ball!". Sestra's ball is all I have left of her, I have to go back and get it. The last time I saw it was when I was running away from Juno.

I need to go back and find the ball, not only do I want it, but I need it so I don't ever forget what I'm fighting for. I start to crawl down the tree, but I tumble down and land on the crossbow, now it's broken, but I ignore it and start to walk opposite of the mountains I was following the other day. After hours of walking I stop because I hear noises. I feel like the discs are going to start flying but I jump down when I hear a lone mockingjay sing. I start to walk again and I finally reach a forest clearing. I hear a noise undeniably made by a person behind me. I crack my whip and I grab something. "Echo. It's me, Jareda, don't kill me please!", she says. I examine her for a minute and see that she is covered in puncture wounds. Not too bad, but still scars are scars.

"Jareda! Give me a reason why I shouldn't kill you?" I shout.

"Because I'm your friend?"

"You told Sestra to drop the ball and she killed herself!", I say remembering what Artimis told me two days ago.

"What? Who told you that!"

"Artimis told me everything!" I shout out.

"Artimis! That liar, she's using you, she told me Excalibar told her a secret about you, and that she was going to use it aganist you!" Excaliber? That bastard. I take spme time and think about it. Would Excalibar betray my trust so he could win these games? What am I saying? Of course he would, anyone would. She must be telling the truth, how else would she know about it.

It gives me some time to form the words in my mouth, "Okay, I believe you!" I say but I really don't. "Jareda, what are you doing sneaking up on me like that? You know I'm really paranoid enough to kill you!" I whisper to her.

"I'm sorry, I can barely think straight.", she said looking down as sad as I've ever seen her.

"What happened to you?", I noticed there's an iron claw mark going across her chest that looked fresh, only one person can use an iron claw, besides Richest, who I had happened to kill. "Where is Caston!", I ask knowing that he just attacked his own girlfriend.

"He abandoned me, and he attacked me as soon as we came up in a forest clearing. I was barely able to get away I'm just lucky Lilia came and helped me.", she said as a cannon fired. "Lilia.", she whispers to herself and cryed a little.

"When did you leave her and where?", I asked her quietly, so if Caston was near he wouldn't hear us.

"About a minute or two ago, and in that direction.", she says and more cracking coming from the direction she pointed. I pull her near a tree that could provide us cover.

"Jareda, where are you?", Caston yells out.

"Did you see which way she went?", one voice asks. I look up and take a peek to who it is. It's Urwin from District 10.

"She went this way!"

"Dude, What happened!", Urwin asked him, while he kneeled down to exam the ground.

"I don't know why she did it. She came up on me on slashed me with a dagger!", Caston answers and I see the monster lift up his hand with the iron claw on it. Jareda is at my level watching too, I here a grunt and I push her head behind the tree, so she wouldn't see. I here a loud thump, and I look back to see that Urwin is on the ground with his back split open. Caston is running out of the clearing. Excalibar comes out of nowhere and chases after him. I run out from behind the tree to take care of Urwin. I push him over so he can see me.

"Echo, Hey kiddo...", Urwin says coughing.

"Urwin, don't waste your breath, you need to rest!", I say. I hear rustling from the bush. I position my axe ready to attack.

"Whoa! Echo slow down it's just me Excalibar!", he bursts out. "Urwin, are you okay!", he rushes over to Urwin's side and grabs his hand.

"Yeah, Excalibar, I'll be fine, I just need some rest, and some bandages.", Urwin says.

"I have some bandages in my pack!", I say.

"Don't waste them, we have more at the camp!", Excalibar jumps in. _Wait a minute did he just say camp_, I thought to myself. We carried Urwin to there camp, and there Persia and Crimson carried him to his sleeping bag and treated him. After an hour they told us he wouldn't make it. Excalibar goes to talk to him first.

"Crimson, Persia, what's all this?", I ask.

"Nothing that concerns you, Echo and especially not you Jareda!", Crimson pushes me, and stares daggers at Jareda.

"What's your problem?" Jareda says coming to my aid, and Persia holds Crimson back.

"My problem is with him, he took the apples I set as a trap to get us food, and to make things worse he almost killed me with his tree trick!", she yells at me. "If anyone is going to kill him, it's going to be me."

"Crimson, I'm sorry, but I haven't even eaten the apples, here they are!", I toss them to her.

"The apples aren't important it's what you tried to do to me!", she comes in close and starts to yell.

"Crimson, I didn't do anything to that tree. Unless it was someone else, it was just the gamemakers who are trying to spice up these games.", a cannon rings out, we all turn to look at Excalibar who looks at us grimly. Urwin was dead

Chapter 11

That night Excalibar and I stayed up to keep watch. It was quiet as the crickets sing.

"This reminds me of the day we meet, do you remember that day, Excalibar?", I ask to keep the silence from consuming us completely.

"Yeah, I remember. I remember even before we met. Urwin got in a training match with you. You literally whipped him. I remember he told me that he wanted you to be part of our alliance as soon as we met up here.", Excalibar tells me still stricken by his best friend's death. He tells me that he was glad that he was the last person his best friend got to see before he passed.

"Hey, Excalibar, did you tell Artimis about my thing over killing my friends?", I ask.

"No I didn't who told you that? I would never, Echo.", he says.

"Jareda said that Artimis told her that you told her."

"That lying! I didn't. I swear."

"But how else would she..."

The anthem plays and the Capital seal appears in the sky, which distracts us from the conversation. It shows Lilia and Urwin in the sky.

_**District 8: Lilia Harvord**_

_**District 10: Urwin Carnivous**_

Excalibar gets up and presses the three middle fingers of his left hand against his lips and points them towards the sky. I know that this is a tradition in District 12, Juno told me so. I get up and join him. He looks down at me and I could see that he's crying.

Two days pass by and no one has died besides Urwin and Lilia. I've stayed in the camp with Excalibar, Persia, Crimson, and Jareda. Things in the games get easier, because we all support each other with our abilities. I got Crimson to forgive me even though I didn't really try to kill her. We have been able to sustain ourselves and we are still plotting to find other people so we could finish these games faster.

"Help me, please...", a voice says from the bushes near the river we camp by. Since it's night time, only Persia and I are awake keeping watch. We slowly creep over, ready to attack just in case the helpless voice is just a trick. It wasn't. It's Artimis from District 11, without her brother.

"Artimis, what happened to you?", Persia asks as she walks over to help her up. There are arrows all over Artimis' back.

"Where's Jason?", I ask her.

"He stayed with Nathine, Derma, and Caston!", she says crying, relieved that we had found her.

"Do you mean he actually joined up with them?", I ask.

"Yes, I didn't want to be part of it, so I went out to find you, Echo, and halfway in my search Derma attacked me.", she staggered to say, as we lay her down on her stomach to treat the wounds on her back. I take the anti-bacterial cream I still have left and use it on her, and some of the bandage wraps. She seems better in a matter of minutes, and she goes straight to sleep.

Persia and I keep watch, and I stay calm by listening to the songs the crickets whistle out. Then the eerie song stops. It goes quite, deadly quite. I wake up Persia who had dozed off, and we wake up everyone else. Everyone is surprised to see that Artimis was here. She stood up by herself and explained it all. She seemed a lot better than when we found her. A cannon fires, we could only guess who that was, my guess was that it was Jason. We could only wait for tonight to come and show us who died.

I remember why I woke everyone up, the quite. I told them but they said I was just being paranoid. They packed stuff into their bags anyways and they went back to sleep. I stayed up, still scared by the quite of the dawn. "Help me please...", I hear a voice come from the river. "Help me please...", I hear it again, I check it out knowing this wasn't a person. It was a Noise Cracker. A Noise Cracker was a mutation made by the Capital, in times of the rebellion, which led to the existence of these games I'm in right know. A Noise Cracker is half piranha, it has the teeth and the same features as one, and half frog, it has legs that let it jump high and a croak that can copy any noise it wants. When it's in danger it lets out a screech to warn others and when they are together, they attack. They secrete toxins that cause a person to go crazy. They can survive out of water which makes them more dangerous than they already are.

This Noise Cracker wasn't alone. I could see lights reflect off the water, but it's not the water its being reflected off of. It's the eyes of more Noise Crackers. The first one notices me and releases a glass shattering screech. They all start to swim to the river banks. I run to wake everyone and I tell them about the Noise Crackers that are coming. They all get their weapons and start to run. By now the frogs are on land getting closer to us. We are packed and start to run. They start chasing us at full speed. We are all running away from the water. Then I hear Persia shout "Crimson!". I look back and see that Crimson is swatting at the Noise Crackers as they swarm her on the ground. "Get off me, Help! Help!", I had never heard Crimson scream like this. "Get them off!". A silver parachute lands near me. I open it quickly and see there's a whislte. I run back to Crimson and blow on it. The Noise Crackers seem to be startled at every blow and they begin to retreat back to the river we ran away from.

Everyone comes back, and Crimson is on the floor, convulsing, and foaming at the mouth. She's twitching and she's humming out words. She's been bitten to many times to save. We all watch, which is all we can do. She gives one last strong twitch, and her head falls to the side, lifeless. Persia closes Crimson's eyes, and we walk back to the camp to see if we can scavenge anything. Crimson's cannon is shot, and we know she's in a better place now. I see the hovercraft fly by us and it takes her body.

I stop and whisper, "Bye, Crimson. I'll miss you.", I do the same thing Excalibar did for Lilia and Urwin. I turn back and continue along with them. We get back to the camp and find that not a lot is harmed just the food, and thanks to me, we still have some packed up in our packs. We decide to rest for a while somewhere else. We find a low patch of trees, like the ones I had found a day or two ago. I show them all the trick I used to sleep in the tree, and we all find seperate trees, and we go to sleep. I wake up in the afternoon, and I find that everyone, except for Jareda, is huddled down beneath the trees. I join them and ask ,"Where's Jareda?"

"That little traitor, took her pack filled with food and a mace, and ditched us." Excalibar spoke angrily. "Apparently she's been on Caston's side the whole time."

"What about the scar that Caston left across her chest?", I ask.

"I saw the whole thing, they planned it! I told you not to trust her!", Artimis says. "My brain got joggled up, and when I fell out of a tree, but it came back to me. That's why the sent Derma to try and kill me as soon as I tried to quit their alliance."

"No wonder I was suspicious of Jareda, she always was the worst when they tried to teach us how to act.", I state knowing that Jareda was up to something from the beginning. "Now what do we do?"

"We are going to find them and kill them! Then it's down to us four." Persia says, and everyone avoids eye contact with each other.

"We can't hurt Jason though, he's my brother, and they of forced him to join. They told me they'd spare me if he joined up with them...", she thinks for a second or two and continues, "If we are going to go after them, I think we should split up, groups of two.", Artimis says.

"That's an idea, we can cover more ground and get them faster.", Excalibar points out.

"I'll go with Persia and you guys can go together. Here's your weapon, Artimis." I say and hand her all my axes, instead of the just one, like I gave her when I seperated from her and Jason. I know that I'm gonna regret giving her the axes later on, but as long as she knows I trust her is good enough for me to continue these games guilt free.

Persia grabs two sheaths of arrows, her pack, and her bow. I grab my whip, Crimson's sword, and my pack. Excalibar gets the spears and pack filled with what we divided for each other, and Artimis does the same with her axes. We say our good-byes and continue on.

Persia and I find ourselves climbing up a mountain later on that night. "I don't think I can continue on for today. We have to find a place to sleep.", she says exhausted.

"Okay, you stay here I'll look for a tree where we could stay.", I look around.

"Or we could stay in that cave over there.", she laughs out.

"Okay then, get up I'll carry you there.", I laugh along with her. We get to the mouth of the small cave entrance. The doorway is small but the inside is big enough for the both of us. I set up with a flashlight as my only resource of light. I help Persia put her things down for her to go to sleep and I would keep watch. I crawl outside while she sleeps, and the sky brightens up with the Capital seal. The faces of the deceased:

_**District 1: Crimson War**_

_**District 11: Jason Zing**_

The anthem plays and the it goes off. After seeing that Jason was dead, I feel bad for Artimis. She must be crying herself to sleep right now. Poor thing, I hope she gets to go home to see her family. I don't care if I win anymore, this is horrible, I was supposed to save Sestra. _She dropped the ball on any chances of her survival, literally, _I thought to myself. I see a silver parachute coming towards me. I open the can and find that it's hot soup and a note from Akiliya. A second one comes and floats into the cave, I'm guessing that it was for Persia.

I read the note which said, "Dear Echo, Sorry about your loses, I tried to get the whistle to you quicker but no one would pay quick enough. Either way here's some soup to keep you going for the next day or two, ration it safely, so it doesn't go to waste in one day. Love, Akiliya", the note made me cry. I wasn't hungry, but it reminded me of what I'm fighting for again. I'm fighting for my friends that died, and I'm fighting to go home to District 7. Everything seemed to be clear, so I crawled back into the cave and saw that Persia was sweating a lot, and she seemed to be breathing heavily. She has a fever! She must have been bitten by a Noise Cracker when she was trying to help Crimson, and got at least a little bit of the poison in her system.

Now I know what her gift was, medicine. I woke her up as quickly as possible, "Persia, Persia, wake up, take this quick!", I shout at her until she opens her mouth and I pour it in. Her skin, which was red because she was hot, calmed down to pink, and then back to normal. She was all better.

"Thank you, Echo, if you hadn't woke me up, I would've probably died in my sleep of that fever.", she says and I hug her because I couldn't think about losing her already. She stays up while I go to sleep.

"Oh, Persia there is soup in that canister, feel free to eat some." I say before I lay down and sleep for hours. I wake up to find that Persia is sleeping as well. She looks like she's been sleeping for as long as I have. She looks so peaceful. I wake her up with the least alarming voice I have, then I hear a cannon fire from outside. This wakes Persia up instantly.

We walk out of the cave and I could see down the mountain and I see Artimis being chased by something. I immediately know who the cannon belonged to. Excalibar.

Chapter 12

I see Artimis running screaming, and Persia and I jump into action leaving everything, knowing we'll come back for it. We run down to the side and Artimis falls and crawls backwards away from what is chasing her. We jump in front of her and I see that it's another Capital Mutation. This one I've never seen before. It's a bear with a very thin coat of fur, it had a dog face with sharp teeth and tusks, and it's body was covered in armor. It was snarling with blood in it's mouth.

I know Persia's arrows wouldn't pierce it and neather would Crimson's sword. I notice that there's an axe in it's back, so I can tell that Artimis tried to fight it off. I pull out the whip and I crack it at the mutt. I do this repeatedly until it get's scared enough to leave.

I dash to Artimis' side. She was breathing heavily, still exhausted from running. "Artimis, what happened? Where's Excalibar?", I yelled at her to get a hold of her attention.

"I don't know he ran the other way. That thing killed Nathine. It was horrible, it's teeth ripped him apart...", she answered hyperventilating.

"Get a hold of yourself!", Persia shouts slapping her twice across the face. I couldn't help but laugh a little.

"Okay, I'm fine!", she screams out. We start to walk away and I hear footsteps from behind us. I turn around and crack the whip getting Derma across the cheek but she shoots an arrow that hits Artimis in the chest. Derma holds her cheek and runs off. Artimis falls to her knees, and has a painfully surprised look on her face. The arrow went straight through her, and lodged itself in her chest.

"Echo...Persia, make sure you kill that...", Artimis says with her last breath. She falls backwards onto her back with her knees still folded. I took this as permission to leave, and I run seeing Derma in my sights, she looks back and starts to scream. I feel the rush of anger run down my face. I crack the whip and it rips the back of her shirt, and she cries out in pain. I try again but this time I trip and she gets away. Persia catches up to me, and she helps me up.

"Persia, we can't let them get away with doing stuff like that!", I say cringing from the fall. The cannon shoots out, and I know that Artimis is dead for sure.

"We won't, we'll kill them before they can get to any other one of us. Now come on, we got a useless mutt running around, that we have to kill.", Persia answers giving the most evil smile I'd ever seen from her.

We continue on looking for either Excalibar or Caston, Jareda, and Derma. While we walked, Persia and I reminiced about old times.

"Remember, the first free-for-all where we teamed up and you took out 4 people when we were surrounded.", I told her.

"You've done better in trainings. You were smart enough to get everyone in the electrified water, by setting the forest surronding us on fire, remember that was the third free-for-all!", we laughed, because besides my whipping people left and right, that was my crowning achievement. We slowed down to a meadow, not the one with the cornucopia, but a meadow with beautiful flowers and butterflies. I wasn't sure, but I think I can hear mockingjays singing too.

"This place is beautiful!" I say sounding the happiest I've had the whole time I've been in the arena. I hear another footstep uneven with ours, and like the first time, I threw the whip and I got something by the neck. I was hoping it was Jareda. I pulled whatever it was through the bushes it was hiding in, and my wish came true. It was Jareda.

I pulled her towards me and got her in a head lock. Persia readies her arrow, and points it at Jareda's heart. Jareda was able to choke out a couple words, "What are you doing I'm on your side!"

"Stop lying, Jareda, Artimis told us everything, that's why you ran away, right? You saw Artimis and knew she was going to tell us about your plan with Caston and Derma!", Persia says.

"One question before we kill you, Jareda.", I say

"What would that be?", Jareda answers.

"How did you know that I told Excalibar that secret?"

"I just happened to come in at the right moment, and I heard it all. I decided to use myself to kill you. Hey, Echo, guess what!", Jareda asks.

"What?", I answered.

"I told...Sestra to...drop her ball, and...I tripped Crimson!", she said laughing. I get furious and start to squeeze her neck harder. "Caston now!", she yells out, before I break her neck. Caston pops out of the tall grass and throws a spear at Persia, who at the same time fired an arrow into his cheek.

"Ah...", I hear Persia spit out as she falls to ground. Caston yells out louder and runs off. Jareda's cannon fired and I run to Persia's side.

"Persia, No!" I felt like crying but I know that I shouldn't in front of her.

"Echo, don't leave me here alone, please.", she breathes out.

"No, I'm not going anywhere!", I tell her.

"I'm not going to make it, Echo.", she says.

"No, you're going to make it, you're going to win this game. Be strong Persia! Please!"

"Sit me up against the tree, please", I do as she says, and I ask her why. "The sun is going down, and I wanted to see my last sunset." The hovercraft comes into view and picks up Jareda's body.

"It's not your last sunset! You're a fighter! Fight it, Persia, please! Fight!"

"Echo, I'm not stupid. I'm going down right now, just like the sun. Here take my pin. It's yours now.", she hands me her District token, a mockingjay pin, like my necklace. "Hey, Echo...Stop it. Smile. Come on smile, I want to see that thirteen year old I met in the arena, that one day.", she tells me and I try to smile, but I sort of get a mix of a laughing frown. "Come on before I go, I want to see a smile. Remember what we used to do when you were sad."

"Yes, I do.", I say and nod. I try to give her the smile she asked for, but it's still to hard.

"Yeah, you remember. I use to tickle you!", she pokes my stomach and she's laughing. I try to hold back my laughter but it gets out. "Can you sing to me...my favorite song. Remember the first one you sang when we met...the Hanging tree." I couldn't hold my tears in anymore, I was smiling but I was also crying. "Come on...cheer up. I'm going somewhere better than this place.", she wipes tears off my face. "Sing, Echo. You always were the best..."

I begin the song and I watch her slowly fade away. I shake her as I sing the song to keep her awake.

_"Are you, are you_

_Coming to the tree_

_Where they strung up a man they say murdered three._

_Strange things did happen here_

_No stranger would it be_

_If we met up at midnight in the hanging tree._

_Are you, are you_

_Coming to the tree_

_Where the dead man called out for his love to flee._

_Strange things did happen here_

_No stranger would it be_

_If we met up at midnight in the hanging tree._

_Are you, are you_

_Coming to the tree_

_Where I told you to run so we'd both be free._

_Strange things did happen here_

_No stranger would it be_

_If we met up at midnight in the hanging tree._

_Are you, are you_

_Coming to the tree_

_Wear a necklace of rope, side by side with me._

_Strange things did happen here_

_No stranger would it be_

_If we met up at midnight in the hanging tree."  
_

When I look up at her I see that her eyes are closed and she has a peaceful smile on her face. I try to wake her up. I slap her, but she doesn't wake up. No matter what I do she doesn't wake up and her smile never clears off her face. I'm on my knees yelling in pain at the top of my lungs. "Persia! Don't Go! Pleeeaase, Persia, please!" She doesn't move at all. While I'm breaking down next to her body, I realize that she is in a better place. Why else would she be smiling? I ly her body down so the falling sunlight can reach her. I wipe my tears and I kiss her forehead as a send-off. I take her bow and arrows and some supplies from her pack. I go and retrieve my whip, which is broken and useless to me. Persia's cannon fires, and the mockingjays flutter around and warn of the upcoming hovercraft. There is something odd about this hovercraft, it just zooms into view faster than the rest do, it quickly takes Persia, and as fast as it came into view, it leaves. As soon as it leaves there is silence for a minute and then the mockingjays continue singing. Only this time they are singing my song. I walk away and I don't look back, I don't want to see her being taken away completely.

I think about the song I had just sung to her. I meant a lot to me. My mother showed it to me, she said that her grandma showed it to her. I sung that song when I first met Persia in our first free-for-all beach arena. I find a tree to go to sleep in for the night, and I set up to wait for the anthem to play. The Capital seal appears and my dead friends faces appear:

_**District 2: Persia Ross**_

_**District 4: Jareda Asleen**_

_**District 6: Nathine Gallaghr**_

_**District 11: Artimis Zing**_

Chapter 13

I wake up the next morning. I get down from my perch and pack up. I put Persia's pin on my shirt and start to make my way. I don't know where I'm going, but all I know is that I'm out to kill. I walk about a mile when a silver parachute lands my way. I open the canister and I find a brand new metallic whip, gloves, and a note. The note said, "Dear Echo, Please except this whip as a gift of my gratitude for taking care of Persia. This new longer bullwhip should be able to assist you. Hold the handle strongly and see what happens, if you need something to keep the handle from hurting your palm I included the gloves for holding it. From your new Friend, Morson of District 2."

Morson...of District 2, that's Persia's Boyfriend...he is real! I do what the note said, and grip the handle tightly and thorns pop out of the whip. _Amazing_, I thought to myself. I try it out and aim for a boulder. I crack the whip and reduce the boulder to rubble. I use the gloves to retract the whip, which is why I notice there is sharp stone at the end of it, I feel it and I know it's a diamond. "Thank you, Morson! I hope you know that your girlfriend, my best friend, was the best person in all of Panem...", I shout out and I know that the cameras are on me now.

I continue on, and I come to a river and see that some of the rocks are blood stained. I follow them, and they lead me to an empty camp. I see sleeping bags, food, and Derma with her hair tied in a pony tail, practicing fighting on a tree. I hide my whip and put down my stuff down and say, "Hey, Derma.", she turns around surprised.

"Oh, Hi, Echo. I didn't think you'd ever find me.", she says wrapping bandages around her hands and making fists.

"And pass up the oppurtunity of killing you myself, never!" I say getting ready for a hand to hand fight.

"That's funny, you think you're going to kill me...just like Caston did to Persia, and I did to Artimis and Kessie?", she laughs. This makes me mad and I move in close and spit on her! "Oh, a fiesty one, huh!", she releases a whip from beind her showing me that she has my old one.

"How did you..."

"I've been watching you in training, I learned how to fix a broken one and how to make one.". We start to circle with eyes locked on each other.

"Derma, you always were a little girl. Now, put the whip down, you have no idea what you're doing."

"Why should I, so you could get it?"

"Derma, I don't need a whip, badly fixed like that, to kill you... just like I did to Nathine and Jareda." I know I didn't actually kill Nathine, but Derma was in love with him, and just like she mocked me by pointing out Persia's death, I pointed out Nathine's death. This made her angry and she charged. She started throwing punches and I threw them right back. She kicked my side, and I tripped her and made her eat dirt. She threw a spear head into my temple. I pushed her head against a tree. She punched me in the mouth, and I pulled her hair backwards.

This went on for 2-3 minutes until she got far away enough to try and whip me. She cracked it once, but since I'm more experienced I grab the whip and snap it right back at her. She loses control of it and the handle whips her in the eye. "Ah! My eye!" she screams holding her face, "You better pray you win this fight, or I'm gonna torture the hell out of you.", she sighs and picks up the whip, but before she does I pull out mine and show it off. Her jaw drops, and her eyes get big. She drops the whip and tries to run.

"Not this time!" I crack the whip and make sure it wraps around her. I pull her in and she begins to beg.

"Please, don't kill me. I have so much to live for!", she starts to beg.

"Ah, what's the matter Derma? I'm guessing that you didn't pray to win this fight, because now I'm gonna torture the hell out of you!", all this killing and dying has gone straight to my head, because right now I don't feel the guilt I would've had from the beginning of the games. I slowly start to squeeze the handle, and she starts to release sharp squeals of pain. She looks up toward the sky and lets out one last shriek, and she passes out of the pain.

I release her of the whip and using the diamond on the point of the whip to write a message in the dirt for Caston or Excalibar to find next to Derma. I write down "Meet me at the cornucopia, Love Echo!". She starts to come to, and I finish her with a powerful crack of the whip, which wraps around her neck. I release the thorns from the whip, and pull it tightly so she runs out of air, and at that moment her cannon fires. I walk up to her body and look at the girl who killed some of my friends, I spit on her and say, "Pathetic...".

I walk away and realize that I just killed an innocent girl. The girl that I talked to that day on the roof. The girl whose mother is all she has. I remember in the 4th free-for-all, I found Derma hiding in bushes, shaking. She was alone. For some, reason nobody liked her. I decided to help her. We made it to the final five before the other three, besides us, Jenten, Darwin, and Crimson, went on to knocking us out. I just finished off the shy, hated girl hiding in the bushes. I remember the look in her big brown eyes when I found her. She had arrows in her hand but she didn't know how to use them. After we had been knocked out, I taught her how to use them, and in exchange she taught me some stuff from District 5. Now the little twelve year old from three years ago, was dead.

I get my things and start on my way back to the cornucopia. Stupid Caston must of thought that leaving Derma to protect their supplies was enough. Obviously not. I take his iron claws, just in case of we get into close combat. I throw all there food in the river and take some myself.

I end up going up the mountain where Persia and I stayed the last night she was alive, and I see that the hovercraft has just taken Derma's body. I starts to rain and I think it would be better to wait in the cave for the rain to stop. I sneak into the cave. I realize we left Persia's silver parachute, and there is a note attached to it, I didn't even notice it. I pick it up and read it. "Dear Persia, This is a remedy for a fever which you obviously have. It is straight from the District 2 hospital that we run. Think of us when your cured, and we'll be waiting at home. Love, Mom and Dad", it was heart felt and I'm glad that Persia had something from home before she passed. I fall asleep in no time and before you know it I'm awaken by the anthem playing in the rainy sky. I slept through the whole day. I see the one face and it's of the person I was happy to release from these games.

_**District 5: Derma Majester**_

Something different happened tonight after the anthem played again. Claudius Templesmith's, the announcer, voice came on and announced, "Now, That there is only four of you left, we will be serving a very special dinner at the Cornucopia tomorrow, and all four of you are invited. Have a nice day, and may the odds be ever in your favor!", and as quickly as his voice came in, it's out.

Four of us? I only remember that it's Excalibar, Caston, and...oh. I remember now. Trenton from District 8. I saw him when I was running from the cornucopia. I saw him run into the forest without anything._ I appluad the boy from District 8 who scored an 11, he's been able to make it this far without anything_. A cannon fires. _Oh, never mind._

I wake up the next morning and I know that I'm going straight to the cornucopia, because I have a dinner date with one of Panem's eligable bachelors, and one that is soon to be married. I feel like I should do something to show that Persia was my friend, and if I die people will always know. Over the mouth of the cave I carve in, "Here lies the friendship of Echo Ivy and Persia Ross, two mockingjays that seperated to soon."

I locate where the cornucopia might be from the top of the mountain, and I also see dark ominous clouds over it. I pull out some dried fruit, and some of the leftover soup that Akiliya had sent me two days ago. I start walking in the general direction of the cornucopia, and I pass a cave that I was positive wasn't there. This is where Artimis got shot by Derma, and where Artimis was cornered by the cliff wall. There was no huge cave behind us when we saved her. I hear low-pitch screeching voices from inside the cave, and I know what it is, a nest of Bellow Bats. I was once attacked by some in the 2nd free-for-all in the Elite's training ground. The arena was in an underground chasm. They're also Capitol Mutations.

These nasty little creature are bats that don't have eyes. but they can sense anything. Movement, breathing, heartbeats, etc. The edges of their wings can cut through skin, and they have screeches that are really low, so it's sort of like an explosion when they get together. These facts are enough for me to get ready to run when I hear their bellows beginning to get closer.

I start to run and I was right, they were coming out, and nothing I can do can keep them from sensing me. I see some getting closer to me and I can feel their wings slashing my back. I can see more trees, like the ones I found on the first day, and I can hear buzzing. A loud powerful buzzing, and from a cross two rows of trees, I see Excalibar running from Tracker Jackers. Tracker Jackers are the deadliest type of wasps/hornets in the world. Also Capital Mutations.

Chapter 14

He's jumping off fallen logs. I think that this is my chance to get rid of him, but if I attack him I'll have Tracker Jackers, and Bellow Bats on my tail. I see Excalibar uses a slingshot to distract the Tracker Jackers. I remember that I have my whistle, the one sent to me to get rid of the Noice Crackers. I find it in my pocket and struggle to get it in my mouth. Once it's in, I blow on it so hard, the Bellow Bats start to retreat quickly and I see that some of the Tracker Jackers are falling dead one by one.

I see Excalibar run towards me. I expect to be attacked, so I bring out the whip. He stops and quickly and catches his breath. "Echo...you're still alive!", he cheers and tries to get near me, but after being here for a week and a half, I'm not used to getting touched.

"Excalibar, what happened after you and Artimis seperated?" I say, still having the whip ready. He explains the story on how they got seperated by the rhinoca-bear. He says he soon meet up a couple times with Caston and they've been having fights with no big results. I tell him what had happened since he seperated from Artimis. He was distraught when I told him about Persia's death. After our conversation we agreed to team up until Caston was dead, and then we are free to turn our weapons on each other.

We walk to the cornucopia, and I see the spot where Juno was killed. I could still see the blood drenched grass from where I axed Issac in the head. If that's here, then I'm near the platform from where I started. Where I saw Sestra blow herself up. _I forgot the ball,_ I remember, that's why I came back, and met Persia, Excalibar, and Crimson. "Wait up a minute, Excalibar, I need to get something." I see a bush of flowers and I pick some. Excaliber follows me around the other platforms. I put a flower on each platform that belonged to the people who had died, except for Persia and Sestra, I put four on theirs. The platform that belonged to Sestra was still scorched.

Excalibar patted my back, and I let him, because I know I could've trusted him. I hear a loud roar, and I see Caston running towards us with his spear ready to throw. The roar didn't come from him or the Noise Crackers chasing him, which as soon as he started to go down to the cornucopia, stopped. We went straight down to end his life in this arena. Then I realize that that the roar came from the earth. It was an earthquake. The ground was opening around the cornucopia. I didn't know what to do it was just horrible. I couldn't stand at all, I was falling on all fours constantly. I see a crack in the floor opening up before me, so I know I have to get myself, and Excalibar across safely. I grab his arm and jump over the opening. We're going left and right trying to avoid the opening cracks in the earth below us. As soon as I reach the cornucopia, the earth's trembling seems to soften, and then fades away completely. It starts to drizzle, and the gray clouds above us start to crack with thunder.

We climb the cornucopia and meet Caston on the top. The earthquake was caused by the gamemakers, obviously. Excalibar instantly jumps on to Caston and they fight. I didn't know what to do. I told Excalibar to hold him down so I can kill Caston. "I'm trying!" he yelled out everytime. Then I got the bow and arrow in perfect position to hit Caston, but he sees me, and when I shoot the arrow, he tosses Excalibar in front of himself and I hear a low grunt come from him. The arrow pierced his heart. Caston pushes him off and he jumps on me. _This is it, Caston just won the 55th annual Hunger Games, the odds were always in his favor_, I thought as I saw my whole life in the arena flash before my eyes.

"I killed Persia, Urwin, Trenton, Lilia, and now I'm going to kill you!", he said. _What was with his team and mocking me?_

I can see that the sky above me is dark and I can see sparks in the cloud. I spit in his face and say, "I killed Jareda, Derma, Issac, Richest, and Nathine your kills aren't anything compared to mine!".

"I'm going to enjoy doing this!", he growls and he raises up the spear. I'm not down for the count though. He stabs it down into where I am, but I move my head, I push him off and I get up. I plunge one of Persia's arrows into his back. He shouts in pain but it's not enough to kill him. I grab Crimson's sword and drive it through his shoulder and pin him to the cornucopia. He refuses to die, so I pull a dagger out of Excalibar's pocket and pin his leg down to the cornucopia.

Caston screams out in pain, but he's still alive and cursing at me. I didn't know what else to do. I hear something beeping, I look up and see a parachute, and I see a rod with a spike for an end. It's for me. No note, but the side says it all, it's a lightning rod. I grab Excalibar and throw him over the side of the cornucopia making sure he lands on my pack that I threw done before him.

Caston is yelling, kicking and is trying to get detached from the cornucopia. It seems to be helping him because the dagger and the sword seem to wiggle out, but I did not come all this way, and lose all my friends, to lose. I grabbed the lightning rod and shout out, " Hey Caston, Persia's arrow, Crimson's sword, Excalibar's knife, and my lightning rod! Think of this as a reunion of parting friends!", and I push it into his right sholder and I make sure it finds its way through the cornucopia. He's stuck for sure. He realize's what I just did, and he starts to yell out, "Don't leave me to die this way! You bastard!".

I jump off and land on the packs. I pick them up and I carry Excalibar away from the cornucopia. I don't dare look back, when I hear the lightning hit, I hear Caston's scream for a short period, and zap, he was dead. Everything on the cornucopia went flying into the air, and his cannon fired.

I dragged Excaliber to his platform and I waited for him to die, because he was on the fast track to doing that. I sat next to him, and he started to talk. "Echo, If you win, tell Carmenella that I love her, now and forever."

"I will..", I look him in the eyes and say, then I wonder, _what does he mean by "If"_, and it hits me. Well, actually Excalibar stabs me.

Chapter 15

Excalibar just stabbed me in the stomach. I'm bleeding out quickly, so I look at him and I tell him what I've always thought of him. "Excalibar, you were my hero. I looked up to you, I saw you like a brother.", I started to choke, feeling the blood pouring out of my mouth.

"I'm sorry Echo, I have to go back and see Carmenella! I'm sorry for everything. Forgive me?", he says crying, with his face covered in blood stains. I remember saying that if I made it to the final two with Excalibar, I would give up my life so he can continue on. It makes sense, because out of all of us, Excalibar would probably be the best Elite. Then it would be Persia, Urwin, Crimson, and then me. I guess I'm going to stay true to what I said. Excalibar is going to win this, now I'm just going to close my eyes, slip away, and then meet up with all the other Elites in that better place people call death.

"I do.", these are my last words to him. When I look up I see that the spear that Caston tried to impale me with, is coming down with a lot of velocity. I see it land right next to me and in Excalibar. The cannon fires and I close his eyes. I start to sing safe and sound again because I know I'm going to die right know as well. I hear trumpets playing and Claudius Templesmith is saying something, everything is fading out to me, ao I can barely understand.

I fall back and I see that I'm being lifted into the sky by the hovercraft above me. _What's the use I'm already going to die, and if there's a chance of saving me, just let me die. All my friends are dead._ All I know is everything is fading away.

I wake up and find that I'm no longer in the arena. I'm on a table in what I think is a hospital. The door slides open and Akiliya walks in. She looks happy to see me. "Echo, congradulations! You won!", she says while hugging me.

"Wait, where's Sestra...and Excalibar...and Persia?", I look around hysterically to see if they're here and about to pop out and surprise me.

"Echo, don't you remember?", Akiliya sits down next to me. "They died...in the arena...with you."

"I died?"

"Only a matter of minutes, but they were able to revive you.", she explains.

"No, you're playing a trick on me, Persia and Excaliber are going to pop out of those curtains, huh? And Sestra...Sestra is probably home right now eating dinner with her family.", I run to the curtains and push them apart to see that no one is there. I see a window, I can see that I'm high up, because I can see towers and the top of buildings. I was still in the Capital. "If they're not there, then I'm guessing Sestra isn't back home in District 7. What happened, Akiliya?", my eyes tear up.

"You won the Hunger Games.", this statement alone answers all my questions, all my friends were dead. I get walked to the room where I lived in the week before the games. When I'm inside I realize that my wound might still be bleeding, I lift up my shirt but nothing is there. It's like the games had been wiped away from my physical appearence and some from my memory.

I take a shower, and I dress, I jump onto the bed. I start this weird mixture of laughing and crying. I start off by crying, and then it becomes a scene. I'm laughing just because I can. Everything becomes a joke to me. Seran comes rushing into the room, "What's the matter?", she says in her high-pitched voice.

"I just won the Hunger Games!", I say laughing with tears in my eyes. Later on that night I try going to sleep knowing what dreams and nightmares await me. I start to countdown the people who were in the arena with me to help me sleep.

_**District 1: Richest Wave**_

_**District 1: Crimson War**_

_**District 2: Excalibar Precense**_

_**District 2: Persia Ross**_

_**District 3: Darwin Bolt**_

_**District 3: Nessa Wire**_

_**District 4: Caston Segwada**_

_**District 4:**_ _**Jareda Asleen **_

_**District 5: Issac Stroid**_

_**District 5: Derma Majester**_

_**District 6: Nathine Galaghr**_

_**District 6: Caitlyn Calliton**_

_**District 7: Sestra Celenova**_

_**District 8: Trenton Venoose**_

_**District 8: Lilia Harvord**_

_**District 9: Alex Zecko**_

_**District 9: Clydessa Dardez**_

_**District 10: Urwin Carnivous**_

_**District 10: Kessie Firstina**_

_**District 11: Artimis Zing**_

_**District 11: Jason Zing**_

_**District 12: Jenten Mao**_

_**District 12: Juno Badge**_

I miss them all. I loved all of them, even though they turned evil in the games, it wasn't there fault. It was the Capital's fault for pinning us there against our will. _Pin!_ I got up and turn on the light, and searched for Persia's pin and my necklace, and there they were on the nightstand. I feel safe again, knowing that the two mockingjays were back together again. I held on to the pin, which to me symbolizes my best friend's spirit being with me.

I woke up the next day and was sent to my prep team, to be prepped for the presentation of the victor, which is me. They all start to cry, because they truly are happy to see me. They get me ready, and they send me off to the head stylist, Tigris. I practically run into the room and yell out, "Tigris, I'm ba-". It's not Tigris in the room, but Stone, Sestra's stylist. "Hello, Stone, where's Tigris?", I ask.

"She was fired, but she told me to give this to you if you won!", Stone says handing me an envelope. I take a card out, and it has a paw print as a design. I open the card and it says, "Congradulations, Echo. If you are reading this you've won the Hunger Games. Don't worry about me, but for now listen to Stone I left him a design made especially for you. It's simple, but it's something not a lot of designers do anymore, it's unique...like you. Good Luck, and I'll see you at the banquet for your sponsers. Love, Tigris".

I felt lucky to have known her and glad that I will see her again. "Let's do this Stone!", I say. He gets me prepared just as quick as Tigris did.

Chapter 16

"Ladies and Gentlemen! The winner of the 55th Annual Hunger Games...Echo Ivy!", Caesar Flickerman cheers on while I walk down the steps to my seat.

"Hello again, Caesar!" I say.

"Hello to you, too. As you know you've won the Hunger Games, that's one title on it's own, but you won a very special one. Do you know why?" he asks me, I can feel the cameras zoom in on me.

"Yes, because I beat every other Elite." I say nodding my head.

"Yes, what a smart boy you are. Now that means you're the best Elite in all of Panem. I mean your smart, compassionate, agile, strong, and really good looking!", the audience goes crazy, "Come on we got some clips, let's show him what we're talking about. We'll start out with agility.", a monitor shows a clip of me running from Crimson and doing a perfect jump over the fallen tree. "Now let's show him compassionate!", a clip of me helping Persia, and singing to Excalibar and her. "Now strong!" a clip of me breaking Jareda's neck, and killing Issac, Caston, Richest, and Derma. "let's move on to smart." It shows my final moments in the arena. Caston pinned to the cornucopia, and me "strategically" placing Excalibar on the platform where the spear later landed on him. "And good-looking...well your the one sitting in front of us!"

"Thank you, I appreciate it. Especially from a city filled with beautiful people!" Everyone applauds themselves. _Yeah, a city of stuck-up, self-centered..._Caesar interupts my train of thought, "You're also very talented. That singing, it was superb. Where did you learn to sing like that! And the song itself made me cry so much when you sang it to Persia! I almost cried all over myself and Claudius!", he laughs and so does the audience.

"Singing comes natural to me. It's probably heredity, my mother is just as good as me or even better. The song was taught to me by my mother and she was taught by her grandmother."

"Well can I ask you a couple a questions, is that okay?"

"You ask the questions you want!", I answer.

"Okay, How did you know where to put Excalibar so he could get killed by the spear?"

"Actually, I didn't know that would happen, I thought Excalibar would die on his own of the bleeding."

"Wow! So it was just fate that helped you win! It sounds like there is someone up there keeping an eye out for you!"

"I guess that there is, so many people wanted to help me win. It was either that or the odds were really in my favor.", I state and the crowd laughs.

"Yes, Persia and Sestra. Now tell me how did you feel when you saw Sestra...blow herself...sky high?"

"I felt like giving up on everything, like I should've stepped off the plate and blown myself up, but I knew there were people back home depending on me to return."

"How long did you know Persia?"

"Since our first training in the Elite Ground. I meet her while we were practicing in an old Beach Arena. We teamed up and got to the end, but we were knocked out. She really was my best friend."

After an hour of clips of me and answering questions we come to the conclusion. Caesar says "This our last question, are you ready?"

"Shoot..."

"How do you feel about all your friends that died in the arena?" cameras zoom in on me, and people all over are sitting on the edge of their chairs.

"That's not a hard question to answer," I start off saying, " I respected all of them. I loved them all. When it came down to it we were always a family, we could always depend on each other. I feel that they are the lucky ones. They are all in a better place. I remember that Persia told me to lean her against the tree so she could see her last sunset. To me that was the only beauty in this world, and I feel that every one of the Elites knew how to appreciate this beauty. Now everytime I see the sunset or sunrise I will always think of them, and the fun times we've had together. I will look at the sun and know that each of my friends is safe and sound."

_**The End**_


	5. Chapter 5

_Safe & Sound_

Chapter 1

We all stand for the Anthem of Panem. We stand through the history of our country and how "wonderful" it is. Ever since the reaping three years ago, I bear total and complete hatred towards the Capital, and it's politicians. We all sit down, because the Escort, Seran Arrow, is about to begin this horrible ceremony. She stands on tall shoes that make it look like it's harder for her to walk. Her wood brown mini dress tops a longer dark green one. Her hair is down and it practically looks like a sheild. She always dresses like a crazy tree, in honor of the tributes that have died under her watch. She pulls out a name from the girl's bowl and then the boy's bowl. While she does this I have a horrible flashback to the reaping three years ago. In that reaping the name for the girls belonged to one of two of my bestfriends, Venice. She was sent up, and before Seran could read the name for the boys, my other best friend volunteered to be the boy tribute of District 7 to help protect Venice. I return to this point in time and she is about to randomly chose which envelope to open first, the boys or the girls.

She grabs the envelope, kisses it, and says "May the odds be ever in your favor!". She opens it, and she nods. "Echo Ivy!" The whole square goes silent and turns to me. I'm not worried one bit about the Hunger Games, not after all the training I've recieved, if anything this is really unfair to the other District tributes. I get up off my seat and walk up to the stage. The Peacekeepers don't bother to guard me on the way up, they know I'll go without a fight. I don't know what to say about the girl who gets chosen.

"Ladies, you next!", she says and looks over to the side with the girls in it. She studies the card and then smirks. "Clair Orchid...", she says. I know this name, and the odd of me winning have just became 22 out of 24.

"Wait!", someone yells out in the crowd of girls everyone turns. "I volunteer!" I scan the area for the idiot who just volunteered to be sent to their death. I look and there is a circle of girls around one who stands up off her seat. Sestra! She runs up to the stage and climbs up to the stage and yells out again, "I volunteer as tribute!". My odds just droped from 22 to 0 out of 24. I couldn't kill my(figurative) little sister.

"Okay, we have our tributes of District 7! Echo Ivy and...Sestra Celenova!", Seran calls out the names again, as Sestra and I stand in front of everyone in District 7. I can see my father holding my mother as she weeps hysterically. My older brother next to them, he stares at us and his eyes are red with anger, because he knows he can't do anything for me now. Sestra moves in closer to me and hugs me. I'm still angry with her because of the stunt she just pulled.

Seran, our escort, moves in front of us and announces that we will now be allowed to see our visitors in the Justice Building. We are walked in while our new mentor, Akiliya Becca, talks to Seran. I walk in my room, where I will await my visitors. First it's my mom and dad, along with my little sister, Brazilia.

"We'll be rooting for you!" my mom said holding in tears.

"We'll be waiting to see you back here, don't worry if you remember everything the training has taught you, you will come back.", my dad says assuring me that I was going to make it. I hold Brazilia and cradle her in my arms, as she coos and giggles, I couldn't help but think that this would be the last time I'd ever see her. The peacekeepers pull them out and I kiss Brazilia goodbye, and the door slams. A minute of silence passes and my brothers rush in and surround me. My little brother, Leo, grabs on to me and he holds on while my older brother, Arslo, and I talk.

"You are going to be okay," he says grabbing me by the shoulders and shaking me, "as long as you use what the training taught you."

"I remember every single thing, but it's not me you should worry about me, take care of Brazilia and Leo!", as I say his name he squeezes me harder. "Leo!", I yell at him, "Listen to me. I'm probably not gonna come back..."

"Echo, he doesn't want to hear this!" Arslo stops me.

"No, he has to know!" I continue, "If I don't come back, you have to promise to take care of Brazilia, and yourself. Pay attention to everything Dad and Arslo teach you! Promise!" he nods. The poor thing is mute, doesn't talk for anything. I never knew why, and I might never will. "Arslo, when you leave, can you ask Sestra's dad to come?"

"I will, but for now good-bye, Jabberjay." he reaches over and puts his favorite necklace around my neck. It's a mockingjay in a gold circle and an arrow in its beak.

"I can't take it, it's yours." I protest.

"Think of it as a family emblem, and a district token. Plus it's good luck. I know how much you like to sing, and this little fellow represents that." I was ready to start crying and then the Peacekeepers come in and pulls them out.

"Take care of the family, both of you, I'll be back, I promise." I yell out a lie after they leave. Right after they leave my friend, Clair, walks in. She was supposed to be the girl tribute until Sestra, volunteered for the spot.

"I'm sorry, that I'm not going in with you..." she said muffling the words by covering her mouth, so I wouldn't hear that she was going to cry.

"Don't worry you couldn't do anything about it." I hug her before she starts to explode with tears. Sestra volunteered for her and I'm still mad at her. Now that she is in it, it means that I'm going to have to try to protect my dear friend with my life.

"I came to give you this, they all pitched in, they bought it as soon as you were sent in here." she says handing me a card with all my friends name on it. "They knew you wouldn't have enough time to see us all.", She was right and even right now I only have about 15 minutes left to still see people. We talk more, and she encourages me that it isn't unfair to use all the things I've been taught as an Elite. This is something we are trained in, to survive a Hunger Game. What were the chances that both Elites of District 7 would be chosen as tributes. This is absolute craziness. A couple more friends walk in after her, and we all enjoy our last conversation. "Remember, you don't have to kill anyone, you just have to survive.", Clair recounts to hug goodbye, and they all leave, only to be followed by Sestra's dad.

"I'm sorry, that your daughter volunteered to help me.", I say looking down at my feet knowing that he might be holding a grudge on me for somehow getting his daughter to face certain death.

"She did do it to protect you, but she also said that as her last wish, she doesn't want me to be angry at you. I wasn't in the first place, I know she sees you like a big brother, and that's why she did it.", he assures me that he isn't angry at me.

"I promise that she will be back, I am going to protect her, even if it means my death.", I look him in the eye. I can tell that it makes him feel better. The Peacekeepers escort him out and I'm off to the train. On the way ther I have another flashback. It was watching my friend, Joel volunteering to help Venice in the 52nd annual Hunger Games. I remember seeing him get killed on the screen in the town square. I really hope that this volunteering business won't end up like the one from three years past. Joel made the same promise to protect Venice, just like I promised to protect Sestra. Hopefully I don't fail like he did. I hope...

Chapter 2

I walk into the train station being escorted by the Peacekeepers, and the train awaits us. I step on the plate waiting for the door to open for us. I look back to see what I'm leaving behind, I see my family and friends looking at us as with despair in their eyes. The door slides open and we're hit with cool air from what Seran says is called an air conditioner. I walk in and rush to a window to see us pulling out of the station. When I reach it, my family has passed already.

I walk into my quarters for the trip to the Capital, and I practically drool over the rooms features. I haven't been in one of these trains since I was 13, when I had just been chosen to be part of a group called the Elites. They sent us to the Capital, as part of an examianation, which I passed. Two kids from each district were sent as part of it, randomly. We've had training sessions since then, but we don't go in these fancy trains anymore. It's always a hovercraft. Just thinking about being an Elite scares me. Especially what I have to do in case I'm ever chosen as a tribute in the Hunger Games. I can't even think about it, so I do anything to get my mind off of it.

I walk into the shower and spend at most twenty-five minutes. I push all the buttons that I remember using. When I come out, I smell like a whole bouquet of different flowers, and the shower is litered with dirt and pine needles that we're still left on me. They left clothes in the closet space in the room, and I don't remember that being there when I came in. Whatever. I chose a simple black shirt, and jeans. I put on the Mockingjay necklace, and head off to the dining hall. There I find Akiliya talking to Sestra, this is there first time meeting, but I've known Akiliya for a long time.

I first met Akiliya when one of my assignments as an Elite was to learn and study from a past winner. I was given Akiliya to learn with. She was the only one in her game that killed people. The careers from her games all died in a mountain explosion, which did wipe off most of the tributes. All she had was a pack and a single rope. She turned it into a lasso and used it to kill off the rest of the tributes. I also liked how she got people to believe she was a weak contendor. She used sadness, and "depression" to convince people she wasn't worth the kill.

I get to the buffet and stack my plate with so much food, yet I contained myself so I can impress our Escort, Seran. She has as much power over sponsers as Akiliya. I sit down with all them at the table, and they are talking about what we have to do to look appealing to sponsers. I've had this talk with Akiliya already so I can sit back, eat, and listen. I already know this stuff anyways. As an Elite, I'm trained in almost everything imaginable. I already planned what I want for us to wear for the presentation while I was taking shower. The pine needles were my inspiration for this.

"So what your saying is that I'll need to pretty up more than I usually do?", Sestra asks questioning it. Around District 7 no one usually "pretties" up, girls at school usually keep there hair down, or in a pony tail. I know what to do to my hair, I know that to the Capital, the bigger the better. A boy's hair is simple, spike it up, or hike it down. I'm thinking about doing something completely different.

"That's exactly what I'm saying, just ask Echo over here, he knows about it, after all he is an Elite.", Akiliya answers her pointing me out.

"An Elite?", she asks looking at me more intrested than she has ever.

"It's nothing big...", I tell her. I never really told Sestra about my Elite Status, even though I trained her with some weapons, that I keep hidden.

"Nothing big!", Seran cuts in, "Elites are something really big in the districts and even in the Capital!", she exclaims.

"Wait, what's an Elite?", Sestra asks finally.

"An Elite is someone who is knowingly being trained by the Capital, and in the event of another war, they are are used as leaders in the Capital's side. They are only 24, two from each district.", Akiliya says as if she's making me look a lot better, "We are going to use his Elite status to help us get sponsers for you two."

"It honestly is nothing, Sestra.", I say to her so she ignores it, but she keeps pushing it.

"It is something...this is what's going to keep you alive, which tribute is going to mess with an Elite!", she's overjoyed.

"I know it'll keep me alive, but what's gonna keep you alive!", I get up and slam my hands down on the table.

"What do you mean, what's gonna keep me alive, it's you who has to live, you're an Elite.", she says jumping up as well. "Am I right?", she looks around and everyone has averted there eyes to me, they want me to tell her the truth.

I sit down, and I tell her, "Sestra, Elite's are killing machines. If an Elite is ever chosen to be part of the Hunger Games, it's his or her job to win...no matter what."

"Tell her the rest...", Akiliya tells me softly.

"Tell me what?", Sestra lowers her volume.

"It's my job to kill my district partner, as long as he or she is not another Elite.", I finally say. The whole cart goes silent. Seran gets up walks over to a velvet couch and continues doing her make up. Akiliya looks down at her plate and continues to eat.

"Well, then I don't have to protect you anymore? Because as soon as you see me in the arena you'll have to kill me?", Sestra sits back down.

"No, not true, there is a loop hole.", Seran says with a smile holding back a giggle, as if we were going to thank her for her knowledge. We all look at her waiting for the answer, especially me because I really don't want to kill my figuritive little sister. "Well, if you have to know, in order for an elite to avoid killing their district partner, his or her partner has to get a score of nine or higher."

I see hope, but all she has to do is get a high score, and I've taught Sestra a couple of weapons. Iron claws, swords, and bows and arrows. "Seran! Is there anywhere on the train were we could train?", I ask her in a hurry.

"There is a cart in the back.", she answers.

"Thank you, Seran!", I hug here abruptly, grab Sestra, and I rush off to the back.

In the cart, I showed how to use her weapons. When she was able to get a hang of it, I let her go to her room to rest. As I was about to leave I spot a whip, and a thick wooden target. In no time I pull the whip out and break the target, just to see if I could still do it.

I look around for a scythe, which was the first weapon I had ever used in my life. Besides an axe, but I just used axes to cut down a tree. I cut targets with the scythe, leaving no target untouched. I go to iron claws, which are just metallic shackles that have long iron blades coming from them. I use them to finish the rest of the cut up targets. I spend more time in the back cart practicing, having fun with the weapons. I eventually look at the clock and see that it's 11 at night. I walk back to the main cart feeling accomplished. It's dark except for the lit up screen of a television. It's the re-run of the reapings in all the Districts. Right now it's just Caesar Flickerman talking about something Capital related.

Akiliya and Seran walk in from nowhere and we start watching re-runs of the reapings in other districts. It begins with District 1. Richest Wave and Crimson War. Wait I know them they're also Elites like me. District 2, Excaliber Presence and Persia Ross. _They're Elites also_. Something was definately weird. I saw the tributes continue Districts 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12. They were all Elites.

Except for Sestra, and the boy from District 11, all of them were Elites. I was scared just seeing all these people get chosen and I was glad that Sestra didn't see this. "How do you feel, Echo?", Akiliya asked knowing all the faces of the Elites.

"I feel like I'm about to have to kill 22 of my closest friends...", I say staring at the screen distantly.

Chapter 3

The announcer, Caeser Flickerman, interupted my train of thought. Seran turns it off, and tells me to go to bed "tomorrow is a really big, big, big day". I'm pretty sure that they were discussing our strategy since the old one about using my Elite status is a bust.

After my shower, I go to sleep to have a dream about all my elite friends, and especially which ones were going to fall at my hands or whip. I dream about my first day at the Elite training building at the Capital. Persia, tribute from district 2, helped me on the first Free-for-all battle, all for one and one for all in a pretend Arena. She and I teamed up when I caught her half dead of deadly poisons from a Noise Cracker. We went on to kill(knock out) 6 opponents.

It's followed by a dream of the day I met Jareda from District 4, she was amazing when it came to swinging her mace around. We met when we caught each other in our second Free-For-All. We met during a sunset at a cliff in a mountainous arena. The mace caught me offguard, I didn't expect it to come from such a beautiful girl like herself. We knocked each other out and we spent the day with each other when we were resting in the training building. I remember that at first she was mad at me for eliminating her from the game. Apparently she was trying to talk more to her District partner, she eventually told me she liked him. I told her I would make it up to her, and I was able to sneak us out of the training building, which apparently is hidden in a flower-filled plain. I can honestly say that if it wan't for her crush on Caston, I could have fallen in love with her. I guess we just weren't meant for each other.

They eventually became a couple. They lasted for about a month or two, and poof it was over. Once I had found this out, I thought I should've revisited my feelings for her, but those feelings weren't there anymore.

I woke up in a cold sweat after a nightmare of me killing Excalibar, one of the Elites I idolize. Excalibar reminds me of my own brother. Caston, from District 4, looks like my older brother, I remember the first time I saw him, I almost called out, "Arslo!", that's how much they look alike. I took a shower and went to breakfast and saw that Sestra, was looking out the window watching the scenery. It was mountainous and the train tracks went over a lake. I gave her a hug and told her, "Sestra, we're going to have to win the crowd over today, you understand that right?"

"I do!", she says hugging me back.

"We have to work together so you can win!", I say.

"I don't care if I win, you are more important than me, you have to win!"

"No! You have a lot more to live for...you have a little sister that depends on you to return, and your Father is more broken than anyone in District 7. He already lost your brother, and your Mom. That poor man doesn't deserve to lose another loved one in his life.", I tell her assertively, and she nods because she knows it's true. We start to pull into the station, I can see the crowds. I start to wave and blow kisses to them, some of them pretend to catch my kisses, and I look at Sestra to join me. She does, and she's more of a hit than I would I've thought.

I see that the other trains have pulled in and I see the tributes of all the other districts outside and I'm filled with happiness that I see all of them again since the last time we met which is about a months ago, but this time there is much more on the line. I run towards Persia and give her the biggest hug, while Sestra goes with Seran to her room.

"Persia!", I say cheering.

"Hey Jabberjay, How have you been!", she says with the same tone of voice I had.

"I'm good let's go say hi to others!", I say and we walk off to meet the tributes from Districts 11. Artimis and Jason. It turns out that Jason is Artimis' older brother, he told me that he came here to protect his little sister, and I understand why he would come.

I look around and see that Jareda from District 4 is here and she's talking to District 5's very own Issac and Derma. I look back and I see her holding hands with someone, her district partner, Caston. They're back together. I felt happy for them, and also a bit jealousy, I don't know why but I did. I disregard the feeling and keep myself in a good mood for when I talk to them right now. I walk up to Jareda, and greet them both. I hug her, and I tell Caston hello. The whole time they do not let go of each other's hand. "Echo, how have you been!", Jareda says.

"I've been great, and I can see you two are too!", I direct attention to their new relationship.

"Yeah, we are happy together. I'm happy that were happy together.", Caston says laughing. Jareda grabs Persia's hand and asks Caston for permission to go talk to someone. He allows it and turns to me. "So how have you been?", he puts his hands in his pocket. and he sounds a bit angry.

"Good, why so angry, Caston?", I ask him.

"Because I want you to stay away from Jareda.", he says in an angry hushed tone, while he grabs my wrist.

"What...why?", I say holding in the look of pain on my face.

"You know why. You like Jareda. You're the reason why we broke up in the first place.", he tightens his grip.

"What are you talking about, I don't know why you guys broke up in the first place."

"You dirty liar, I broke up with her because she cheated on me with you!"

"That's stupid. It's true I had feelings for her once but not anymore, I'm glad you guys are back together.", I say and he lets go. He's grip has strengthened since the last time I saw him.

"Sorry, I'm just really self-concious about her, since I heard you kissed her."

"On the cheek, but that was a long time ago.", he still looks suspicious. "Caston, I swear I wouldn't do anything to come in between you two, ever.", He turns back around, and I leave. I walk away and except that they are happy together, they want to remain that way, but they are in the worst place to be in love. In a fight to the death match where only one person can win. I feel depressed by the fact that not both of them could live, or I'm going to kill them.

I walk away and I pass by my own idol, Excalibar, He says hello, but I can feel so much sadness in me, I ignore him. As soon as I get to my room I start to scream my head off. I know that in this moment my anger towards the Capital. An hour later after releasing everything, I go to lunch and after I get to go get dressed for the presentation of the Tributes to the Capital. I get preped by my Prep Team, which is made up of a Andreas. A woman with purple-skin, pink teeth, and is wearing a smock covered in feathers. Harmonio, he looks like a snake with a forked tongue, and red dyed eyes, his smock is a lot more colorful, it kinda looks like the colors of a poisonous animal. Then last but not least, Calpurnia. She looks like an odd mix of the other two, she's a snake bird, with surgically implanted feathers, and redish-pink tattoos that make her look like she has scales.

They talk about upcoming social events with the rest of the other Prep teams that involves a lot of drama, or I think that's what it is. Something about someone having an affair with a married woman, and vice-versa, either way I tune them out. They are finally done and I head off to see my head designer/stylist.

Her apperance surprises me. She has surgically implanted whiskers, and other stuff to make her look like a cat, or a tiger. "Hello, I'm your head designer, Tigris.", she looks at me with her spotted eyes and says. This explains the extensive work to make her look like a "tiger". This is far beyong the Capital's beauty standard. This is what going over board in the Capital looks like.

"I'm the piece of meat you'll be designing today and for the rest of the next week, my name is Echo." I say to her as she laughs.

"You are District 7?", she asks and I nod, "Well, I have an idea of camouflage styling...what do you think?" I tell her my idea, she agrees and calls up Sestra's Stylist and they agree. I gave her my idea of anciet grecko-roman apperal, like I've read of in books about Ancient Greece. We also get to use a wreath of leaves. The plan goes that I represent the fall, with brown, orange, and a couple of green leaves. Sestra's representing spring, she'll have flowers and bright green leaves in her hair. She's going to have her hair dyed bright green and mines going to be red with yellow highlights.

While Tigris, was putting the clothes on me, I start to talk to her, "I'm sorry that I shot down your camouflague idea."

"Don't worry about it, It wasn't even my idea, why else would I ask you what you thought if I liked it. Honestly it was hideous, and I know that you Elites are also trained to know what would go together!", she laughs, and as it fades out, it turns into a purr. She finished in an hour or so, and we still have time.

"Tigris, this is better than I would've ever imagined!", I cheer. It looks like a humanly shaped tree. The drape I wear is brown, and the my hair is filled with orange autumn leaves, just for District 7, lumber. Each district has to be dressed to match what their district is leading supplier on. It shows me off more than I thought it would, it makes me look gorgeous, this is for sure to get me some sponsers.

"Oh, It's my pleasure Echo, but you can't go out there without the finishing touch.", she ties my mockingjay necklace around my neck and she blows some dirt off of it. "Now you might want to go to your platform you can socialize with the other tributes while you wait."

"Thank you again, Tigris!", I say when I hug her.

"Your welcome now let me take care of some things and I'll be in the stands watching, and remember when they announce your district untie your hair from right here.", she points it out and she sends me on my way. I feel and it's a well hidden ribbon that holds up some of the fake hair up. She says that it'll be a secret for now. When I do untie it, and if I really want to know what it is, I have to look at the screen where we will be shown. I make my way out of the room and straight into the backstage area where we will wait to be taken out and presented.

Chapter 4

I walk to my Chariot and I see that I'm the only one here except for District 2. I walk over to see that Excalibar's sitting down reading a magazine. "Oh, hey Jabberjay," he says while he puts the magazine down, "I haven't seen you in a long time, how have you been?" he stood up, and I noticed his costume. He looked like an over-exposed Peacekeeper, since he's from District 2, even though they are masonry, they're the district that supplies every district with Peacekeepers. He was just as exposed as me, and it makes me feel a little less self-concious since he seems to walk around like if he usually wears this amount of clothes.

"Oh, I've been good, and you?", I answer him.

"Wonderful, although, I think you're lying."

"What do you mean, I'm perfectly fine!", I burst out.

"I saw the despair in your eyes, and the blue feeling in your face when I passed by you. Just tell me what's wrong, Jabberjay.", he points out.

"Please! Stop calling me 'Jabberjay'!", I try to change the subject.

"Fine, Echo! Just tell me what's eating you? I'll understand if you want to keep it a secret, and if you still tell me, then I'll keep it on the down low. Just tell me.", Excalibar says, and I have to tell someone.

"Fine! I don't feel right about this Hunger Game with all the Elites. We've practiced this before, but never a real one. I need to protect my friend Sestra, so she can go home, but I also don't want to kill anyone. I know all of you guys, and your styles of fighting, and I know that I won't be able to go into this arena without having to kill one or two."

"Calm down, I won't tell anybody. Don't worry, I understand, I don't want to kill any one of you guys, either, but I have someone to go home to now. Her name is Carmenella. She's about your age. She's the best, there is no girl who can beat her." He goes on to tell of his District 2 love named Carmenella. That as soon as both their names are taken out of the reaping, he's going to marry her. I am really happy for him, I see him like an older brother, when my own isn't there, so that's why I look up to Excalibar, even though we rarely talk at all. I know that we think a lot alike, but sometimes we could be sitting next to each other, yet be a million miles apart. I hope he wins, I mean if I fail to protect Sestra and she dies, then I don't want to return home. I would probably form an allience and then when it's down to Excalibar and I, I will take myself out of the game, so he could continue on with his wedding.

More people start to arrive and I talk to District 3 tributes, Nessa and Darwin. They are some of the smartest people I know since they are from the technology district.

"Hello, Echo! How are you! It's been so long, and I would express to you my feeling of excitement to see you again, but I won't. If we were some place else, I would, but as soon as we're in the training ground we are enemies. I'm sorry, Echo!", Nessa says.

"It's okay, Nessa. As long as I know we were friends before the training.", I say and she nods. I leave them and find Sestra.

I walk over to her and she is talking to Nathine and Caitlyn, from district 6. They are both dressed like a mechanical mix of human and vehicles. The crowd starts to cheer so we are about to start. They start off with District 1-12, so we have time. "District 1!", Caesar Flickerman says. Crimson and Richest look like medieval King and Queen. "District 2!", Excalibar is trying to pump up the crowd while Persia sits down filing her nails, not caring at all. It gets the crowd to cheer more so they can get Persia's attention.

"Hey, when we're on the platform and they put the spotlight on us that's when we untie our hair.", Sestra reminds me.

"Okay.", I say, already knowing.

"My designer said that he and your designer have agreed on it."

"District 6", the announcer cheers out as well with the crowd, while District 6 is shown off. Sestra and I run onto the chariot's platform and wait to be called out, and we hold on to each other. I feel the spotlight hits us, and before Clauduis Templesmith announces us, the crowd goes wild, and then he announces us, we look out and release the tied hair and from our hair hangs glimmering extensions that reflects all the colors of our hair, and the crowd practically explodes with applause. I can see us on the monitor taking our poses and I make sure to wink and wave at people in the crowd.

I have another flashback to the day my two friends were being presented. They both looked ridiculus in big tree costumes. If they weren't in that situation they would've laughed about it, like we usually did. Every year District 7's tributes have to be dressed like trees, it's really irratating. I remember both of them hudling together, they were both scared, I can only imagine what they were thinking when they saw each other on the screen. I remember the pain of seeing them on the chariot, just like me.

I come back from my flashback and we're pulled in to the stage in front of the main building, and I watch everyone else pull in behind us. Out of everyone, I think we were the most popular. The President steps out, says his speech, the Panem anthem plays out, and we are taken back. I step off the chariot to be caught by Jareda. She looks beautiful in her mermaid costume. She was popular because of her relationship status with Caston. She told me how good I looked and that she would like to have an alliance with me when we are in the games. I told her I would think about it, but really I was going to deny her the first time I see her in the training center.

Sestra and I walk into the elevator, which is really weird for us because we never really see these back in the districts. We leave in order from 1-12. I hug everyone goodbye and that'll see them when we get the training center. When we exit the elevator Akiliya and Seran meet us at the door. They walk us to the dining room and we meet with Tigris, and Stone, Sestra's stylist, and we dine in the most biggest meal I've ever seen. Even though I'm an Elite, we don't get special treatment from anywhere, it just makes us a little bit more hated in the poorer districts in fact.

Compliments are thrown around the room, and Tigris calls attention to herself and says that the costumes were my idea, and everybody cheers. I throw back my praise saying that the hair, which was a main staple in our popularity, was the stylists idea and they should get even more praise then I. Then Stone says the hair thing was Sestra's idea, and she sits in the corner saying, "Oh stop it you!".

We all have a toast to congradulate all of ourselves, for our acting, and the stylist's styling. I enjoy the food, and for some reason this food tastes better just knowing that Sestra was going to live and go back home to her family.

If neither of us make it, I'd be fine with that. I can't return home, if Sestra died while I was protecting her. It would only give me worse flashbacks. Just being in this arena will give me the worst flashbacks ever, because I know that I'm going to have to kill someone eventually, I just hope it isn't Sestra.

Early in the morning, and I sneak out undetected from the room into the dining hall and I find that Akiliya was already sipping tea, and watching re-runs of the presentation. "Oh, Hello, Echo, where are you going without breakfast?" she asks.

I grab a plate and answer, "Nowhere, especially with this fine cuisine." I load on my plate yet have the decency to grab one napkin with a bread roll hidden inside it, for later. I gorge myself because Seran isn't around.

Akiliya asks me again. I pretend to have to much food in my mouth to answer. When she asks again I answer, "I was going up to the roof to see the sunrise."

"Echo, why do you want to see the sunrise?", she asks.

"Akiliya, you of all people should know why I want to see it.", she looks at me confused, "Since my name was called out in the reaping I've learned to appreciate smaller things, and the sunrise is something small. I've been watching it a lot lately. It reminds me that I might not see beautiful things anymore. It also reminds me of me. It's as bright as my own hope to survive these games, or to at least save Sestra and die doing it.", she looks me in the eyes and says I'm free to go.

Chapter 5

I walk into the elevator and I travel up to the top, and I see a edge where I can sit. I sit down and I notice I'm not alone. I turn to the greenhouse and I see movement from inside, I go in and ask, "Is anybody in here?", no answer, I turn around and I hear a pot fall and shatter. I turn around to see that it was Derma from District 5. Poor thing stares at me like if she was a deer standing in front of a train.

"Hi, Derma.", I say, "Come on and join me. I was about to watch the sunrise. I walk over to the ledge and sit down and I see sunrays shoot up from the horizon. I notice that Derma, without making any noise, already made her way over to my side and looked down really scared. "Derma, It's okay, if you fall you bounce right back, remember how strong the forcefields are.". It seems to calm her down. I pull out the napkin I hid and I take the bread roll from it, and hand it to her.

She takes it and eats to her hearts content, "Thank you, Echo!", she says happily.

"No problem," a comfortable silence takes over and I continue, "Isn't it beautiful, Derma, the sunset. How much it shines. It's hard to believe to another planet our sun is just a distant star?" She nods wispfully. "I continue on looking at this momentues glory and makes me think that I'm never going to see it after next week.", I say and let the sunlight get soaked into my skin.

"Echo, what do you mean that after next week you'll never see it again, don't you plan on winning?", she finally says.

I nod and say, "No, not one bit, I couldn't live in a world where I had to kill my friends, besides I'm gonna live up until Sestra is the winner, and then I can close my eyes, take in my last breath, and just slip away.", I finish and she looks at me sadly. "What's the matter, Derma?".

"I can't live in a world like this either, but I know that I have to get back to my mom, I'm practically all she has. Don't you think it's selfish for someone to sacrifice themselves for someone else. I mean you have family that wants you to get back home."

"That's right, Derma, but my family has everything they need, they won't miss me as much as Sestra's dad is gonna miss her. She's all he has too."

"But it's still wrong, we still want to see you again, we don't want you to die in the arena. We love you, and it's your responsibility to live. I'm planning to survive the three days with Nathine, you and Sestra can join us."

"Derma what are you talking about we're going into a fight to the death where only...", she looks at me and her eyes are filled with honest innocence. She really doesn't know that only one of us is going too survive. She must think this is just another free-for-all, where many people can win as long as they pass the three-day criteria. I find that I should explain to her what's really going on. "Derma, do you know how the Hunger Games work?"

"Yes, they give us three days, and everyone who makes it the end of the last day wins. That's why I made a plan, that if we..."

"Derma, that's a free-for-all, this is the Hunger Games. These two things are different. In the free-for-alls we don't get hurt, but here, we can die."

"No, I know, but my plan is for everyone to drop their weapons and be at a stand-still until the last day is done. That way we can all go home."

"Derma! That's not how it works. There isn't a time limit here, we die when we die!", I yell and her eyes get bigger. "There is only one winner out of 24. They would never allow more than one person to win. If we don't kill each other, then they will. I would rather you all fall at my hands, than to a bunch of evil Capital people who pitted us against each other in the first place."

I look at her and she's scared, and she's about to cry. She is to innocent to be thrown into an arena with all her friends. She didn't even know that only one of us can live. I close my eyes and I continue, "Derma, I'm sorry. I thought you had the right to know."

"No, you're right, Echo. I have to stop being so naive. I knew how this worked, but I was just hoping it was just a game. That as soon as we're in the Arena, Psy's(our Elite trainer) voice came on and told us that we just have to complete the three day free-for-all."

"Just a game...", I think about it. "I know a song named 'Just a Game'. Don't worry Derma, if things go wrong, then I'll make things right, and then you'll have more of a chance of winning then me. Just be thankful for all the days you have with Nathine." I open my eyes and I look to find that Derma is gone. Someone who could be that quite even when she's really close, will be a worthy adversery to me. I go back to the the 7th floor, take a shower, and I get dressed and ready for the training.

When Sestra and I get down to the training floor, the instructor tells us the rules and sends us to training. The problem is that Sestra's trying everything she hasn't been taught and she's making herself look like prey to everyone else. "Sestra, what are you doing? Keep it up and you'll be the first one to go down in the games."

"Sorry, I just wanted to see if I could do all these other things.", she whispers to me.

"Well stop it, show them that you're not completely weak, there are axes over in that station, show them what you've got.", She walks over to the station, with everyone's eyes on her she picks up an two axes. She throws it and it gets the rubber dummie, in the neck nearly severing it off the fake body. Now she has everyone's attention. She moves on to the other stations and I start to pay attention to others.

Crimson and Richest are sword fighting and both of them are really good. Excalibar is hitting moving targets left and right by throwing knives. Persia and Derma are doing the same with arrows. Nathine is piercing fake bodies with spears. Caston and Jareda are learning how to camouflague. They both play around and paint each other, laughing and giggling. I already know their strengths though. Jareda's got her mace, and Caston can use a pair of iron claws to polverise wooden targets into tooth picks.

Darwin and Nessa are sticking together with traps. Depending on the arena, Darwin can turn a normal wire, into an electrical trap. I remember he taught me how when we were in our second free-for-all. Issac is tossing 100 pound weights around like nothing. I look over to see Artimis is using poison darts and Jason is using a barrier shield. A gigantic shield that could be used to crush things and to protect yourself. Then I notice that people are still waiting for me to do something so I look on the weapons wall, for my weapon of chose, a bullwhip. It's exterior was leather, but the inside was flexible steel, strong enough to make marks in boulders. I pick it up and I walk over to a target station. I crack it once and destroy one, crack it again and make a slash mark across a tree they have for climbing, and everyone looks in awe. We all have something special, but nobody has ever seen my full potentiel with a whip.

Days go by and I figure out that Juno, Urwin, and Jenten are really good trappers. Caitlyn doesn't seem to do anything, but I've seen her throw knives before, so I know not to take her for granted. The day to work for our final scores is finally here. We perform in front of the gamemakers, and get scored from one to twelve. The higher the number the more likely you are to succeed, but it also makes you a target in the arena.

Excalibar comes out looking accomplished which worries me. It came for Sestra's turn and she told me she was going to try to impress them with the axes. When she was done she hurried to the elevator without even a glance toward me. I walk in to the main room where all the gamemakers sit and watch. "State your name, age, and continue with whatever your going to do.", the head gamemaker asks.

"Echo Ivy, 16, and I will need targets for whipping.", I say to them. He presses a button and targets pop up from out of nowhere. I pull the whip quickly from the rack. I crack the whip one way break a target and use it to destroy another one. I whip it everywhere and I can hear wood being destroyed. I felt that I was getting a good score, until I was disrupted by the gamemaker's "thank you", and a little bit of applause. I walk out, and I go back to the room and I await my score.

I pass by all the following District tributes, and I wish them good luck. I walk to the elevator, but I'm stopped by District 12's tributes, Juno and Jenten. "How'd you do in there!", Juno asks me.

"It went good. I think."

"Don't worry, you'll probably get a higher score than us.", Jenten laughs.

"Thanks you two, but I should be getting back, bye. Break a leg!", I say as I walk away from them. Once inside I press the button four on accident. I press seven right after so I don't have to make the stop at District 4's floor, but the elevator sends me there anyways. At the door for District 4, stands Jareda and her District 4 mentor, Mags. Jareda waves me in, but I deny. The elevator door doesn't close quick enough so she pulls me in.

"Echo, meet my District mentor, Mags. Mags this is Echo, from District 7."

"Hello.", I say to her, she returns the greeting and leaves. Mags looks like she's been in a lot of traumatic situations. I remember Jareda told me about her though. She was a powerful swimmer, and can make a fish hook out of anything. I 'm not sure which year she won, I think it was the 7th or the 13th annual Hunger Game.

"How'd you do?", Jareda turns to me and says.

"I'm not sure, I'm hoping I did good."

"I know I did great. You wanna know what I did?", she says. We're not supposed to know what the others did, due to the fact that that would be an unfair advantage but I already know wht her skill was. Before I can answer she tells me, "I did sword play!"

"Oh, that's new."

"I know, what did you do?"

"I used the whip like I usually do. Of course I'm going to need the whip in the arena. Hopefully, they give me a strong resiliant one."

"Well, of course, you wouldn't want to disappoint your ex-girlfriend.", she laughs. We talk a bit more, and after I decide to leave. I finally get to my floor, and release the breathe I've been holding in since I got into the elevator on the fourth floor.

Later that night, we all gathered in the Television room, and we anticipated the scores for District 7. It came on starting with Sestra's score. "Sestra Celenova...9", the announcer, Claudius Templesmith, says. I was so relieved because that meant I didn't have to kill her. Then came mine "Echo Ivy...11".

Chapter 6

I could not believe I got an eleven. I usually get an 8 or 7 when our Elite Leaders scores us in our free-for-all training. Except for Trenton from District 8, and Crimson from District 1, I was the only one who got an 11. The smallest score came from Clydessa from District 9, she got a score of 5. Persia, Excalibar, Alex(9), Kessie(10), Nathine, and Caitlyn got 10. The boy tribute from District 1, Richest, got 8. Artimis got 8 while her brother, Jason, got 9. Everyone else got a score of 6-10.

The room was filled with cheers, everyone comemerated Sestra and I for our scores. Now is where it gets a little bit more difficult. We have to find out what our strategy is, and then we have to ace our interviews with Ceaser Flickerman in front of all Panem so we can get sponsers. "We'll tomorrow is going to be really big, in winning the games, so we'll have to take night hours to talk about the strategy." Akiliya gets my attention and answers my question of when we were going to strategize before I even asked it.

"Well, can I go leave my district token in my room first?", Akiliya nods and Sestra is on her way. Her district token isn't like mine, it's something her father made her in his carpentry shop back in District 7. When she returns we continue our meeting. "Okay, so number one thing is to find a resource to sustain you for the rest of the games. We don't know what type of field they are going to give you so you have to be careful with everything. Remember don't step off your plate until the gong rings out."

"Or what?" Sestra interupts Akiliya.

"Or you'll get blown into itty bitty pieces!", she answers quickly. She continues "Water is a main thing, do either of you know how to hunt?", she asks and both our hands go up. "Well, make sure, when you run for the Cornucopia, to grab a knife, your weapon of choice, and a supplies backpack.", she says ending our meeting, and sends us off to bed. "Remember tomorrow, is where we will train you seperately for the interview, so get some sleep and be prepared for tomorrow."

I walk Sestra to her room and hug her goodnight, but it could also possibly be goodbye, because two days from now well be running in arena trying to survive. In my room I do last minute showering and prepping, so the prep team wouldn't be so troubled. I go to sleep and have a dream where Persia and I are allies again in the first free-for-all.

"You think you're going to like being a war leader?", she asks with her arrow positioned to kill a rabbit for our lunch.

"I'm not sure how I feel about it, and you? What do you think?", I ask her.

"I honestly don't love it, my whole life I hated the Capital for sending my sister into the games. She died on the first day in a fight near the cornucopia."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be, it's the Capital's fault, not yours.", she shoots the arrow and gets the rabbit clean through the eyes.

"Do you ever feel like they chose us to be Elites for a reason, Persia?", I asked her.

"I kind of do, I think almost everyone here has lost someone they loved to the games."

"That's possibly true, but I don't get why they didn't chose my brother to come. He lost five of his friends in the games. I lost my two closest friends to the most recent one though."

"Well, I'm glad they didn't chose your brother. The way you describe him he sounds like a real jerk. If they had chosen him, then I would've never met anyone as smart as you, or as ticklish as you!", she says poking my stomach and laughing. That was the day I knew I could always depend on Persia.

Akiliya wakes me up, and tells me to go with Tigris so I could get dressed and then get ettiqute training. I walk into the room and get rushed by my Prep team. They are so weak minded it's laughable. I wonder if it has ever crossed their pea-sized minds that they are just dressing me so I can get killed. I hear them talking about me being Tigris' last tribute to adorn. "You know that, you are the last person to get worked on by Tigris?" Harmonio asks me.

"No, I didn't, why, is she getting fired...or quitting?", I repeat the thought in my head.

"She's getting fired.", Andreas said.

"Why?", I say sadly. Out of everyone I've meet here in the Capital, Tigris seemed like the only logical, kind-hearted person. "Does she go overboard with costumes when she's not supposed to?"

"No, It's because she's getting...old, President Snow said that everyone has to be young and beautiful to represent how beautiful the tributes are, or something like that.", Calpurnia answers.

"How old is she?"

"She's thirty-five!", Andreas exclaims, and Calpurnia gasps. Only in the Capital can you get fired for being thirty-five.

"If we get fired at thirty-five, then I've only got two years left!", Calpurnia says, and decide to complement her.

"Really, you don't look a day over twenty-two!", I say. This makes her blush and Harmonio laughs.

"Yeah she doesn't look a day over twenty-two...thousand!", he laughs and so do I. Once they're done with the prepping I get up off the table and I thank them for everything and I say I hope to see them in the distant future. As I'm about to walk out the door, Harmonio stops me. "Here give this to Tigris,", he hands me a card, "we don't have the heart to give it to her in person...and good luck out there kid!"

"Thank you!", I say as some of them shed a tear. I hug them all to show them I don't hate them(entirely). I walk down the hall into Tigris' room. There she is with her face buried in her hands weeping.

"Tigris, I'm here." I say quietly. I put the card down on a table and we get started. She has a whole thing with my hair again, she start putting things in there. I'm dressed in a brown suit with a bright green shirt and vest. My hair is back to normal, but she said that she concealed some glimmering stuff in there so I have to shake it a little.

I'm about ready to leave, but I remember the card. I take it off the table and hand it to her. She opens it and I could see her spotted eyes go left to right, and she starts to cry again. I give her big hug and tell her that she has done well over the years, and that she has done her job well today because the District 7 tributes are going to win. She calms down and starts "Echo, you are one of the best tributes I have ever had the honor to work with. Good luck out there, Echo, and don't forget to shake your hair!"

I walk out and everyone is in their seats already, we are about to begin the interviews. Caesar Flickerman steps out and the crowd cheers. I've been in front of a crowd this big only once. When all the Elites were to protect the winner of the Hunger Games three years ago, but this time we have to talk. He goes on with a couple of jokes to warm up the crowd. Then he tells us that girls first and then boys, and in order of our districts.

Crimson goes up first, her gold dress shines in the spotlight. She has a whole competion with Caeser about whose hair is softer. Richest goes up and he's so nervous he barely talks, but he does tell everybody what he's going to be trying to get as soon as he's in the arena. A pair of iron claws is his choice. Persia goes up and the silver black dress does wonders for her. Caeser asks, "So, a pretty young girl like you must have a boyfriend, am I right?", the crowd goes balistic at this question.

She answers, "Yes, I do, he is from District 2. His name is Morson, and I'm going to win this to go home and see him!", the crowd awes for a moment, and Persia and I have locked in eyes, I can tell that she's doing this so she can get people on her side. This "Morson" probably doesn't even exist. I've known her long enough to expect this from her. Excalibar is next and he tells the story of his future fiancee, Carmenella. He gets a little bit more people on his side. District 3 interviews blow past, and then Caeser announces District 4, and this one is a suprise to me.

"Okay, now moving on to District 4, but can I have them both come up here!", Caeser says and Jareda and Caston both walk up hand in hand. "You two are an item, am I right!", he asks and they nod. "How long have you two been together?"

"11 months!", answers Caston.

"Actually, we've been together for 1 month, but we've had feelings for each other long before!", Jareda points out.

"That's adorable! Caston here includes the months you weren't even together!", Caeser cheers. The crowd is hooked. Now it's my job to get these people on to my side right after them. "Well, going into a game where only one can come out alive what is your strategy?"

"We aren't entirely sure, I know that I want her to win.", Caston says.

"And I want him to win!", Jareda says ready to cry.

"I'm gonna get the iron claws to protect Jareda from any attacker."

"And I'm going to get my mace and bury it in anyone who tries to touch him.", she says making it sound like a warning. She was never really good at threats. I laugh a little louder than I thought I would've and they turn to look at me. The rest of the tributes turn and also smile a bit.

"Well, I wish you both the best of luck...", Caesar says. "Ladies and Gentlemen the tributes of District 4, Caston Segwada and Jareda Asleen!" the crowd cheers.

Everyone goes by quick, then it's Sestra's turn. "Sestra Celenova, come on up!" Caesar yells out with joy. "Sestra, how are you doing?"

"I'm fine and you?", she answers sweetly. The green short dress she's wearing is shining in the limelight she's in right now.

"Good, good, so you volunteered when they called out your friend's name in the reaping?"

"Yes I did, I came on my own because I owe Echo one, so while I'm here I'm going to protect him.", she says with a lot of confidence in her voice. They go on a small banter and he finally comes to the final question.

"And what's your strategy going into the games?"

"I plan on getting my hands on axes, getting Echo out of the bloody Cornucopia fight, and letting the other Tributes eliminate each other in order to protect Echo."

"Well your times up, so I wish you the best of luck, and I hope you succeed, Ladies and Gentlemen, Sestra Celenova!", crowd cheers and then pause and I hear my name. "Echo Ivy, you're next!"

Chapter 7

I put on my best smile and climb up the steps. "Hello, Nature!", he says mocking me, for the costume on the first day.

"Hello Annoncer man!", I joke around, and I get the crowd to laugh. I don't really understand why, but I take it as a win.

"Oh, well that was an astonishing splash you made during the presentation last week!", they show me up on the monitor, and I have to smile.

"Yes, but I couldn't have done it without my stylist, Tigris!", She stands up in the crowd, and takes a bow while a couple of people clap. I'm not kidding at least one couple clapped. I shake my hair because I remember that's what Tigris told me to do.

"Whoa! What was that?", Caesar cheered and clapped.

"What was what?", I say like I didn't know.

"Your hair just glimmered! Shake your hair again!", he cheered me on.

_Hookline and sinker_, I thought, "Okay!", I shook my hair and the crowd went crazy with excitment, and I could hear my name being hollered out. I stood up and made sure everyone in the stands surrounding us got some, including the tributes. Once I look down I can see that different colored petals are falling out of my hair. I could hear people whistling, and shouting, and just have a heart attack of fun. I would do more but I felt dizzy.

"Wow, was that Tigris' idea?"

"Yes it was!"

"Wow, Tigris, take a a bow!", she does, and this time everyone cheers, and I see that she wipes a tear off her face. "Now on to more important matters!", he calms down the audience, "What is your strategy?"

"I can honestly say it's to stay alive, until the final two, where I will sacrifice myself to send that girl home!" I say pointing at Sestra.

"Ah, I see the both of you are allies from the beginning."

"Yes, we are, she's like my little sister, and she has so much riding up on this game."

"Like?"

"Well, personal things."

"I understand, what weapon are you going to use!"

"This might seem a little strange, but I am diving for a whip." I was correct, it did sound odd. The audience looks at each other, confused, so I decided to turn it into a joke. "Yeah, my ex-girlfriend says that I was really good when it came to the whip!" the crowd loses it and tears are streaming from every eye.

"Oh, my, well you are delightful! I hope you succeed in all your plans and may the odds be ever in your favor, now give the crowd what they want! Ladies and Gentlemen, Echo Ivy!", while he finishes his last line, I shake my hair vigorously, to release the petals all over. I step down and find that some people who worked to get people on their side have just lost them to me, hopefully no one shows me up...no one does.

The ceremony is soon over, and we are allowed to go back to our rooms, to get ready for tomorrow. I say good-bye for the last time to some people and we get to our room.

"Are you ready for tomorrow?", Sestra asks me.

"I am prepared, and you?", I question her.

"I feel ready to kill anyone who tries to hurt you, Echo."

"Sestra, I don't want you to try and protect me, these people are Elites like me, we're meant to be able to kill anyone."

"You've showed me enough and I already know what some of their weaknesses are, for example, Crimson can barely toss a spear because of her back problems."

"Sestra, we Elites are world renouned actors, we are trained for everything even tricking our opponents."

"I know you don't want me to get hurt or killed, but I owe you for when were younger. Remember when that gigantic tree almost killed me.", hearing her say these words take me back to that day.

I had just came back from the Elite choosing, and the training was done. Clair and I had came back, and I went straight to helping my dad with working on some trees. My dad's friend was helping him and he had his daughter, Sestra, there with him. She was only eleven, she wasn't working she was only messing around, and she had decided to take a rest where we cut down the trees. I heard a tree crack and I saw that the stupid idiot was still under the tree. I tossed everything aside and ran to her. She had just noticed the tree and was frozen with fear, when I pulled her off the ground and tossed myself over her and we fell a foot away from where the tree landed.

Ever since that day she has been my shadow. I taught her some things I knew. She learned how to survive, and now she wants to repay me the favor. "There is one, big difference between then and now!" I shout at her, "Back then I lived when I saved you, and in order for you to save my life I have to win and you have to lose. Losing means death!" I yell out at her. Before she could respond Akiliya and Seran came in to say their good-byes.

"I want you two to know that it has been an honor to escort you both." Seran said with a sad tone, but she's still part of the Capital, so she insults us right after, "Don't die, if you two die, then I'm demoted to another District like 12, eeww!"

"We love you too, Seran." Sestra says. Seran nods and leaves us with a smile. Akiliya says good-bye to us as well.

"You two might do your last minute prepping tonight. Remember that you two have to conceal yourselves. Pack, hunting gear, weapon, and water. I'll be watching and getting you things from your sponsers. Good luck you two!", Akiliya gives Sestra and I a hug, and before she leaves salutes me.

"Sestra will see you right after the games are done." I say because she's the one who will win. Sestra ignores me, and hugs her back and leaves to her room.

I walk off to my room, and there I take off the glimmering hair extensions. I take a shower, and pull out a tray of almonds from my draw and eat to sleep. I have another nightmare, where I suffocate Sestra and win. It's followed by the dream of when I met Excalibar. We were in the middle of our third free-for all battle. He just popped out of the water where I was fishing. The Arena was lake surrounded by forestry.

"Hey, you're not Crimson!", he acted surprise.

"Yeah, I've noticed!", I was still surprised and scared he'd knock me out.

"You're funny! I haven't seen you around the grape vine, what's your name again?"

"I'm Echo, and you're Excalibar!", I just realized who he was.

"I'm also really wet, come on in and join me!", he grabs my hand and pulls me in, and he starts to laugh.

"Ah, I don't...know...how to swim!", I shouted and kicked around. I remember hitting the bottom of the shallow water and seeing him coming down to save me. He could of knocked me out, but instead he saved me from drowning. We later formed an alliance and I ended up winning.

The next morning I wake up and see that the outfit that I'm going to wear. It was just normal clothes with special properties. The shirt was supposed to change tempurature according to the weather. The sweater was to keep in heat, well more than a usual one would. I put it down and I leave to a room where a hovercraft awaits all the tributes. I grab on to the ladder to be lifted up, but a shock freezes me and I can't move. A Peacekeeper puts a needle into me, and I ask him what it's for. He tells me that it's my tracker. I'm lifted in and I'm strapped in with everyone inside. I stay quite, because I know that if I talk it'll be harder to kill these people, my friends.

We arrive to a base and we are sent to our launch room, where we await to be sent into the arena. I go inside the room and I see that Tigris is there. She holds out her hands for a hug and I oblige her.

"Hey, you forgot something in the prep room." She holds out my mockingjay necklace.

"Thank you, Tigris!" I was relieved that she had found it for me. She puts it around my neck, and then a loud booming voice sounds, "60...59...", the countdown has just started.

"You better get on the platform quick!" Tigris says, and I follow her directions and when I get on it a glass tube surrounds me. "Good luck, Kid! Make me proud!", she says before I'm launched off. I rise to the top and I see all the other tributes.

Our platforms is in the middle of a meadow. I can see that the trees and mountains surrounds us. I see the golden cornucopia down in the middle. The meadow decents inword toward it. I look around I see that Sestra is a couple people away from me. I turn to look for Persia, and then I hear an explosion.

Chapter 8

I turn around and I see that Sestra's wooden ball, her district token, has landed a couple feet away from my platform. I look at Sestra to see if she threw it. She was gone. Then I realize that the explosion came from her platform. I hear the people next to her shriek out. I could see that something was splattered all over the floor. "NO!" I yell out. I fall to my knees on the platform. I see that the wooden ball was scorched.

"10...9...8...", the booming voice announces. I hear Persia shouting out for me to get up. I didn't know what to do. I get up and my face is filled with tears. Sestra was dead. "Let the 55th annual Hunger Games begin!" and a large ring is announced, and I start to run the decent into the Cornicopia. I make it into the inside of it where I grab a bag of axes, whip, and a pack. When I turn around I see Richest coming at me with the iron claws he wanted. I grab an axe instantly and throw it, I see him stop straightaway and he falls to the ground with in axe in his head. I run, pull the axe out of him, and run up the incline.

Halfway up I see that Clydessa is in front of me with an arrow drawn and pointed at my skull. I stop and I see a knife fly pass my head and get her in the eye. She fires it, and I drop to the ground to avoid it. The arrow bulleted passed me and gets Caitlyn, who threw the knife at her in the first place, in the eye. The phrase "an eye for an eye" has never rung so true.

I'm on the floor when Derma darted and tripped over me. We lock eyes and she hurries to get up and darts into the forest with a pack. I get up and run and a barrage of knives flies towards me, all thrown by Juno from District 12. She chases me into the forest where I hide in a bush. She stops because she knows it's better to go back to the clearing rather to take me on, the boy who scored an eleven, the boy from District 7 where they specialize in forests.

I see her turn around only to get a sword lodged in her and go through her completely. I see that it was Darwin from District 3. Behind him comes Issac, from District 5, and he breaks Darwin's neck with his enourmous hands. He kneels down near Juno's body and he picks up her head. She isn't dead, yet. She speaks, "Issac, I love you!" she coughs, with blood filling her mouth.

"I love you too, Juno!" he crys out, he could barely be heard from all the tears. I couldn't bear to see my friend like this. Juno's head turns lifelessly and her eyes lock on to where I am. There is no more life in them. Issac puts her head down, and closes her eyes. I couldn't bear it. I sneak out and walked behind him quietly, and I throw an axe. I close my eyes and I hear a loud thump. I turn around and I see that Lilia from District 8, saw the whole thing. I expect an arrow or a spear from her, but she just nods at me and she dashes into the forest.

I get the axe from Issac's head, and I speed off into the forest. I find a clearing, and a tree with a hole in the base big enough for me to slip into. I crawl in and I sit with my knees to my chest. I take in all of what just happened. I killed two of my friends, and led four others into their doom.

My sobs seem loud to me, but no one finds me so I'm fine. "Sestra...how...why?", I crying under my breath. She's dead. How could this happen, we warned her about the landmines. I'm crying more, and if I'm crying this much for Sestra, I can only imagine losing Persia. That would kill me.

Hours go by, and I see that Crimson comes into the clearing. She takes a wire out of her pack, and she climbs the tree in no time. She comes back down and I realize she just set a trap. She put a bag of apples in the middle. I see her sneak over to the side and kneel down.

I crawl out the hole, quickly and undetected. I get up and bullet for the bag and she runs straight into the clearing. I grab the bag of apples and run further into the forest. I find a dirt path, and start to run it, and she runs right behind me. I've known Crimson for a long time, and I know that she can run for miles, and she won't stop until she catches her taget, which right now, is me. I could tell she was mad because the trap didn't work on me, and I took her 5 apples. I hear a crack, a familiar one, so I slow down enough to see a tree fall in front of me. My Elite training kicked in, and I jump over it, landing with enough momentum to keep running. I've seen Crimson train, and she's one person who couldn't do a perfect jumps like Artimis, from District 11, Lilia, from District 8, and I could. She comes to a quick hault, and falls over the fallen log.

After an hour of running I slow down and decide that no one else is chasing me. I walk straight into a patch of shorter trees that are familiar to me. I also notice a certain type of moss that only grows near water. I hear 10 cannons fire. Each cannon represents each tribute that has died. It has started to get a little less brighter so I campout in a higher tree. I find a fork in the high branches and set up. I see a little opening in the leaves where I have perfect view of the sunset.

I open my pack and pull out the sleeping bag. I also find a bag of jerky, dried fruits and berries, a pair of sunglasses, bandages, rubbing alcohol, water, and matches. I get ready to go to sleep so I close my eyes. I take in everything again. All those dead faces, Crimson, my friend, angry at me and trying to kill me now. I see the Capital seal appear in the sky and I see the faces of the deceased once again. It starts in order.

_**District 1: Richest Wave**_

_**District 3: Darwin Bolt**_

_**District 3: Nessa Wire**_

_**District 5: Issac Stroid**_

_**District 6: Caitlyn Calliton**_

_**District 7: Sestra Celenova**_

_**District 9: Clydessa Dardez**_

_**District 9: Alex Zecko**_

_**District 12: Jenten Mao**_

_**District 12: Juno Badge**_

I wake up the next morning, and I crawl back down I go looking for a river, but instead I find a tiny stream. I go up the current and find a big lake. I look around to see if anyone was around. I see that across from me, my friend Kessie Firstina, from District 10 is drinking water near the lakes edge. I would call her over but I don't know if she's dangerous, or if someone is around to kill me as soon as I call her.

From behind her I see bushes rustling. I see that she notices, and she starts to run. I see four people run out of the bushes and chase her down. I couldn't help it, I have to help Kessie, she was my friend, and they were about to kill her. I see that her assailants are Caston and Jareda, Nathine, and Derma. They all have daggers in their hands and they playing with Kessie. They surround her and each take a turn cutting her. I stop running because of they see me they'll do the same. I see that Kessie tries to make another escape. This time Derma, being as quick as she is, jumps on her and takes Nathine's spear and impales her. "Stop it, NO!", I yell out on accident. Kessie's cannon fires.

Chapter 9

I see that they've spotted me, I turn to run, and I can hear them shouting out "Get him, quick!". I keep running into the forest, and soon enough they stop, and I've lost them. I find a nice big tree and I climb it. At the top, I find a fork of branches, and I sit down.

I take a sip of the water I have and I eat an apple. It starts to get dark. I doze off a little, and when I wake up I see someone in front of me. I take an axe and my hand gets stopped by someone else. _This is it, I lost the games, I'm never going to fulfill Sestra's wish of me winning._ The person behind me puts the sunglasses on me and covers my mouth. The sunglasses let me see better in the dark. I see that the person in front of me is Artimis, and the person covering my mouth is Jason.

"Quiet." Artimis whispers and points down. I see that it's Caston and his alliance are walking under us. They are talking about Kessie. "Oh please don't kill me!" Nathine mocks Kessie's begging.

"Please, I could help you find Echo quicker! Just don't kill me!" Derma follows, "She was so pathetic!" she laughs right after. I feel the immense pressure of throwing an axe in her head, but Jason sensed this and he gripped my hand harder.

They soon pass and Jason releases me. "Artimis, Jason, what are you guys doing?" I whisper.

"Well we were walking when we saw their torch so we climbed up the tree and found you here." Artimis says.

"You were about to kill Artimis, so I had to stop you, and sorry about covering your mouth, I just didn't want you to blow our cover." Jason says.

"Oh that's understandable, but I thought you guys were going to kill me, that's why I raised the axe." I explain.

"It's okay we get it." Artimis says. "Sorry about Sestra."

"Yeah, if my sister was stupid enough to blow herself up I would go crazy to." Jason laughs, strangely, I don't find this funny.

"Jason!" Artimis hushes him, "I told you already she didn't blow herself up!"

"What do you mean she didn't blow herself up?" I said.

"I saw the whole thing, Jareda told her to drop the ball, because it would've held her back from running, so she did and the rest is history." she reveals to me that Sestra's death wasn't an accident. All my feelings for Jareda were gone as soon as she finished telling me this. I wanted to get her in the head with an axe.

"I'm going to chop her head off."

"Whoa, take a chill pill, it's to late we gotta get some sleep." Jason grabs my shoulder. The anthem plays and the Capital seal appears in the sky. One face appears tonight.

_**District 10: Kessie Firstina**_

The anthem plays out and the seal disappears. Jason and Artimis take a seperate fork then me and they fall asleep. I go to sleep right after them and I have a dream about Kessie. When it came to the training sessions in the Capital, we were always a team. She was the first person to even talk to me when we first arrived at the Capital. She was my first friend here. She might've planned to sell me out but I know she was scared, and she had to do anything to live. They way it sounds, they were looking for me.

I wake up early and I pack up and slowly crawl down the tree. I find Artimis on a branch near mine, and Jason is on another branch in another tree. I crawl up to Artimis and I leave an axe. I start to walk towards the big mountains that are really far away. I take a path that is covered in trees, there is no way someone can find me through here. Although I could be wrong. I constantly hear twigs snapping, but I think that It could just be the gamemakers trying to scare me. I walk for hours and I can see that some of the trees start to thin down. Trees start to turn into saplings and it soon turns into plain dirt on the floor. I hear something whizzing around in the air, and I can feel fear building up in me.

I start to slow down and I come to a stop so I can rest. I scan the area I'm in but I highly doubt that anyone will find me here, even though it's a clear wide plain. I drink some of the water I've collected. I eat another apple and ly down, I close my eyes for a second, and I hear something bullet through the air, and land right next to me. I open my eyes sit up and I examine a sharp disc that is sticking out of the ground. The bulleting noise is back and I jump out of the way. Another disc lands right under me. I look up and see many more flying towards me. I grab my things and start to run back towards the forest. A disc hits the floor in front of me, and breaks through a rock. I come to a screeching halt and run in another direction. I'm running and I can see the tree line coming up. Something cuts my side, and I see that a disc lands in front of me covered in blood. My blood. I start to push myself further and I am running in a zig-zagging lines.

Another one cuts my ear, and soon one lands straight in my calf. I stop and it starts to burn as if it were on fire. I look at it and it's turning red hot. I fall on the floor yeling in pain. I see another one flying towards my head, I roll over and it lands near my head. This disc is different, once it hit the floor, it doesn't stop spinning. It was digging into the ground. The disc finally starts to burn so much I grab and yank it out as quick as I can. I yell and I get up and run into the forest which is only a couple feet away. When I get to the first tree a disc cuts right through a tree, and it falls almost hitting me on its way down. My leg still burns but I jump over the tree and run further into the forest. I soon stop hearing the discs after they've cut down about ten trees.

I'm exhausted and just let myself fall straight onto the floor. I can feel my calf still burning, and the powerful pain is pulsing in my ears. I reach in my pack and I grab the anti-bacterial cream and some bandages. I bite down on my whip and I rub on the cream. It burns and I want to scream, but I bite down on the whip harder, knowing that I might be within earshot of one of the other tribute. I wrap my leg in the bandages, and make sure it stops bleeding.

Chapter 10

The burning pain turns into a cooling sensation. The pounding pain in my ears starts to go away, an I allow myself to go to sleep on the floor, hopefully no one passes by. I'm dead wrong. I hear speaking coming from the other side of some shrubs. I get up and try to run but my leg is still weak. I lean on a tree and start to climb as fast as I can. "Come on I heard it from over hear!", I hear a familiar voice. It's Nathine, and if he's here then the rest of their group shouldn't be to far away. I hurry up the tree, and try to conceal myself in one of the branches.

"What did you hear exactly!", Jareda asks him.

"It was a really loud thump, I mean huge, sort of like an earthquake!", he shouts and pushes his way through the bushes. "Whoa!", he exclaims as he sees the fallen trees.

"What in the world!", Derma shouts out kind of laughing. Their faces are filled with shock. "What did the gamemakers do this for!".

"Probably for that!", Caston yells out pointing at the tree I'm in. "Come on out I already saw you, Echo!". _How did he see me?_

"Hi, you guys!", I sit up on the branch. "What are you guys doing over here?", I shout down from the branch.

"Nothing just trying to get rid of as many competetors as we can!", Nathine says. "I thought you'd be a little bit more difficult to find but you've proven me wrong once again!".

"When was the first time Nathine!", I ask with a smile.

"That day in the third free-for-all! When you trapped us all in the electrified lake, by setting the trees around us on fire! Then I thought you would get a score lower than ours, but no, you out did yourself and got an 11! That makes me really proud to know you!", he says grabbing Derma's bow and arrows. I prepare my axes for a fling when a parachute comes sailing into the tree with me. They all notice, and Nathine is ready to shoot, and I jump to the branch above me where it landed. The arrow flies and hits the trunk. I look down and see that Jareda is jumping on to the tree and starting to climb. I open the package and see that it's a cross bow. I tie it to my wrist, and load it with one of it's many arrows. I point it down and the group sees it, but Jareda is still to busy climbing to see it. The yell out,"Jareda , come back down! Quick!", I look for her in the branches below me and I start to aim. I finally have a lock on her, and then an arrow scratches my cheeck. I look down and I see Derma is getiing ready to launch another one. I jump to the next tree and she misses.

I keep skipping into different trees, and I try to escape, but they follow me. I land on a flimsy branch and I fall down to the forest floor. I tumble and I start ot run again. More arrows are flying and I turn around to fire one of my own, and it gets Nathine in the shoulder. This stops Derma from chasing but Jareda and Caston continue on. I shoot back and get Caston in the shin, but it doesn't stop him. I run and I hear an awful high pitched tweeting from above me. There was a nest of bright colored birds, I'm guessing these were Capital Muttations. They were candy pink, with beaks that looked really sharp. I run ahead of it and when I see that Caston and Jareda were almost underneath the nest of the swarming candy birds I shoot an arrow into it and it falls to the ground in front of them. The birds swarm the two of them, and they start to get stabbed by the birds, I only watch for a minute and leave before the birds notice me.

I run away and come to a stop when I hear the Capital seal appears and the anthem plays, but there is no one dead tonight. I'm tired of running, and before I climb the tree to go to sleep, I clean the wound that the arrow made on my face. The next morning, I wake up and a sudden thought hits me. I whisper to myself, "The ball!". Sestra's ball is all I have left of her, I have to go back and get it. The last time I saw it was when I was running away from Juno.

I need to go back and find the ball, not only do I want it, but I need it so I don't ever forget what I'm fighting for. I start to crawl down the tree, but I tumble down and land on the crossbow, now it's broken, but I ignore it and start to walk opposite of the mountains I was following the other day. After hours of walking I stop because I hear noises. I feel like the discs are going to start flying but I jump down when I hear a lone mockingjay sing. I start to walk again and I finally reach a forest clearing. I hear a noise undeniably made by a person behind me. I crack my whip and I grab something. "Echo. It's me, Jareda, don't kill me please!", she says. I examine her for a minute and see that she is covered in puncture wounds. Not too bad, but still scars are scars.

"Jareda! Give me a reason why I shouldn't kill you?" I shout.

"Because I'm your friend?"

"You told Sestra to drop the ball and she killed herself!", I say remembering what Artimis told me two days ago.

"What? Who told you that!"

"Artimis told me everything!" I shout out.

"Artimis! That liar, she's using you, she told me Excalibar told her a secret about you, and that she was going to use it aganist you!" Excaliber? That bastard. I take spme time and think about it. Would Excalibar betray my trust so he could win these games? What am I saying? Of course he would, anyone would. She must be telling the truth, how else would she know about it.

It gives me some time to form the words in my mouth, "Okay, I believe you!" I say but I really don't. "Jareda, what are you doing sneaking up on me like that? You know I'm really paranoid enough to kill you!" I whisper to her.

"I'm sorry, I can barely think straight.", she said looking down as sad as I've ever seen her.

"What happened to you?", I noticed there's an iron claw mark going across her chest that looked fresh, only one person can use an iron claw, besides Richest, who I had happened to kill. "Where is Caston!", I ask knowing that he just attacked his own girlfriend.

"He abandoned me, and he attacked me as soon as we came up in a forest clearing. I was barely able to get away I'm just lucky Lilia came and helped me.", she said as a cannon fired. "Lilia.", she whispers to herself and cryed a little.

"When did you leave her and where?", I asked her quietly, so if Caston was near he wouldn't hear us.

"About a minute or two ago, and in that direction.", she says and more cracking coming from the direction she pointed. I pull her near a tree that could provide us cover.

"Jareda, where are you?", Caston yells out.

"Did you see which way she went?", one voice asks. I look up and take a peek to who it is. It's Urwin from District 10.

"She went this way!"

"Dude, What happened!", Urwin asked him, while he kneeled down to exam the ground.

"I don't know why she did it. She came up on me on slashed me with a dagger!", Caston answers and I see the monster lift up his hand with the iron claw on it. Jareda is at my level watching too, I here a grunt and I push her head behind the tree, so she wouldn't see. I here a loud thump, and I look back to see that Urwin is on the ground with his back split open. Caston is running out of the clearing. Excalibar comes out of nowhere and chases after him. I run out from behind the tree to take care of Urwin. I push him over so he can see me.

"Echo, Hey kiddo...", Urwin says coughing.

"Urwin, don't waste your breath, you need to rest!", I say. I hear rustling from the bush. I position my axe ready to attack.

"Whoa! Echo slow down it's just me Excalibar!", he bursts out. "Urwin, are you okay!", he rushes over to Urwin's side and grabs his hand.

"Yeah, Excalibar, I'll be fine, I just need some rest, and some bandages.", Urwin says.

"I have some bandages in my pack!", I say.

"Don't waste them, we have more at the camp!", Excalibar jumps in. _Wait a minute did he just say camp_, I thought to myself. We carried Urwin to there camp, and there Persia and Crimson carried him to his sleeping bag and treated him. After an hour they told us he wouldn't make it. Excalibar goes to talk to him first.

"Crimson, Persia, what's all this?", I ask.

"Nothing that concerns you, Echo and especially not you Jareda!", Crimson pushes me, and stares daggers at Jareda.

"What's your problem?" Jareda says coming to my aid, and Persia holds Crimson back.

"My problem is with him, he took the apples I set as a trap to get us food, and to make things worse he almost killed me with his tree trick!", she yells at me. "If anyone is going to kill him, it's going to be me."

"Crimson, I'm sorry, but I haven't even eaten the apples, here they are!", I toss them to her.

"The apples aren't important it's what you tried to do to me!", she comes in close and starts to yell.

"Crimson, I didn't do anything to that tree. Unless it was someone else, it was just the gamemakers who are trying to spice up these games.", a cannon rings out, we all turn to look at Excalibar who looks at us grimly. Urwin was dead

Chapter 11

That night Excalibar and I stayed up to keep watch. It was quiet as the crickets sing.

"This reminds me of the day we meet, do you remember that day, Excalibar?", I ask to keep the silence from consuming us completely.

"Yeah, I remember. I remember even before we met. Urwin got in a training match with you. You literally whipped him. I remember he told me that he wanted you to be part of our alliance as soon as we met up here.", Excalibar tells me still stricken by his best friend's death. He tells me that he was glad that he was the last person his best friend got to see before he passed.

"Hey, Excalibar, did you tell Artimis about my thing over killing my friends?", I ask.

"No I didn't who told you that? I would never, Echo.", he says.

"Jareda said that Artimis told her that you told her."

"That lying! I didn't. I swear."

"But how else would she..."

The anthem plays and the Capital seal appears in the sky, which distracts us from the conversation. It shows Lilia and Urwin in the sky.

_**District 8: Lilia Harvord**_

_**District 10: Urwin Carnivous**_

Excalibar gets up and presses the three middle fingers of his left hand against his lips and points them towards the sky. I know that this is a tradition in District 12, Juno told me so. I get up and join him. He looks down at me and I could see that he's crying.

Two days pass by and no one has died besides Urwin and Lilia. I've stayed in the camp with Excalibar, Persia, Crimson, and Jareda. Things in the games get easier, because we all support each other with our abilities. I got Crimson to forgive me even though I didn't really try to kill her. We have been able to sustain ourselves and we are still plotting to find other people so we could finish these games faster.

"Help me, please...", a voice says from the bushes near the river we camp by. Since it's night time, only Persia and I are awake keeping watch. We slowly creep over, ready to attack just in case the helpless voice is just a trick. It wasn't. It's Artimis from District 11, without her brother.

"Artimis, what happened to you?", Persia asks as she walks over to help her up. There are arrows all over Artimis' back.

"Where's Jason?", I ask her.

"He stayed with Nathine, Derma, and Caston!", she says crying, relieved that we had found her.

"Do you mean he actually joined up with them?", I ask.

"Yes, I didn't want to be part of it, so I went out to find you, Echo, and halfway in my search Derma attacked me.", she staggered to say, as we lay her down on her stomach to treat the wounds on her back. I take the anti-bacterial cream I still have left and use it on her, and some of the bandage wraps. She seems better in a matter of minutes, and she goes straight to sleep.

Persia and I keep watch, and I stay calm by listening to the songs the crickets whistle out. Then the eerie song stops. It goes quite, deadly quite. I wake up Persia who had dozed off, and we wake up everyone else. Everyone is surprised to see that Artimis was here. She stood up by herself and explained it all. She seemed a lot better than when we found her. A cannon fires, we could only guess who that was, my guess was that it was Jason. We could only wait for tonight to come and show us who died.

I remember why I woke everyone up, the quite. I told them but they said I was just being paranoid. They packed stuff into their bags anyways and they went back to sleep. I stayed up, still scared by the quite of the dawn. "Help me please...", I hear a voice come from the river. "Help me please...", I hear it again, I check it out knowing this wasn't a person. It was a Noise Cracker. A Noise Cracker was a mutation made by the Capital, in times of the rebellion, which led to the existence of these games I'm in right know. A Noise Cracker is half piranha, it has the teeth and the same features as one, and half frog, it has legs that let it jump high and a croak that can copy any noise it wants. When it's in danger it lets out a screech to warn others and when they are together, they attack. They secrete toxins that cause a person to go crazy. They can survive out of water which makes them more dangerous than they already are.

This Noise Cracker wasn't alone. I could see lights reflect off the water, but it's not the water its being reflected off of. It's the eyes of more Noise Crackers. The first one notices me and releases a glass shattering screech. They all start to swim to the river banks. I run to wake everyone and I tell them about the Noise Crackers that are coming. They all get their weapons and start to run. By now the frogs are on land getting closer to us. We are packed and start to run. They start chasing us at full speed. We are all running away from the water. Then I hear Persia shout "Crimson!". I look back and see that Crimson is swatting at the Noise Crackers as they swarm her on the ground. "Get off me, Help! Help!", I had never heard Crimson scream like this. "Get them off!". A silver parachute lands near me. I open it quickly and see there's a whislte. I run back to Crimson and blow on it. The Noise Crackers seem to be startled at every blow and they begin to retreat back to the river we ran away from.

Everyone comes back, and Crimson is on the floor, convulsing, and foaming at the mouth. She's twitching and she's humming out words. She's been bitten to many times to save. We all watch, which is all we can do. She gives one last strong twitch, and her head falls to the side, lifeless. Persia closes Crimson's eyes, and we walk back to the camp to see if we can scavenge anything. Crimson's cannon is shot, and we know she's in a better place now. I see the hovercraft fly by us and it takes her body.

I stop and whisper, "Bye, Crimson. I'll miss you.", I do the same thing Excalibar did for Lilia and Urwin. I turn back and continue along with them. We get back to the camp and find that not a lot is harmed just the food, and thanks to me, we still have some packed up in our packs. We decide to rest for a while somewhere else. We find a low patch of trees, like the ones I had found a day or two ago. I show them all the trick I used to sleep in the tree, and we all find seperate trees, and we go to sleep. I wake up in the afternoon, and I find that everyone, except for Jareda, is huddled down beneath the trees. I join them and ask ,"Where's Jareda?"

"That little traitor, took her pack filled with food and a mace, and ditched us." Excalibar spoke angrily. "Apparently she's been on Caston's side the whole time."

"What about the scar that Caston left across her chest?", I ask.

"I saw the whole thing, they planned it! I told you not to trust her!", Artimis says. "My brain got joggled up, and when I fell out of a tree, but it came back to me. That's why the sent Derma to try and kill me as soon as I tried to quit their alliance."

"No wonder I was suspicious of Jareda, she always was the worst when they tried to teach us how to act.", I state knowing that Jareda was up to something from the beginning. "Now what do we do?"

"We are going to find them and kill them! Then it's down to us four." Persia says, and everyone avoids eye contact with each other.

"We can't hurt Jason though, he's my brother, and they of forced him to join. They told me they'd spare me if he joined up with them...", she thinks for a second or two and continues, "If we are going to go after them, I think we should split up, groups of two.", Artimis says.

"That's an idea, we can cover more ground and get them faster.", Excalibar points out.

"I'll go with Persia and you guys can go together. Here's your weapon, Artimis." I say and hand her all my axes, instead of the just one, like I gave her when I seperated from her and Jason. I know that I'm gonna regret giving her the axes later on, but as long as she knows I trust her is good enough for me to continue these games guilt free.

Persia grabs two sheaths of arrows, her pack, and her bow. I grab my whip, Crimson's sword, and my pack. Excalibar gets the spears and pack filled with what we divided for each other, and Artimis does the same with her axes. We say our good-byes and continue on.

Persia and I find ourselves climbing up a mountain later on that night. "I don't think I can continue on for today. We have to find a place to sleep.", she says exhausted.

"Okay, you stay here I'll look for a tree where we could stay.", I look around.

"Or we could stay in that cave over there.", she laughs out.

"Okay then, get up I'll carry you there.", I laugh along with her. We get to the mouth of the small cave entrance. The doorway is small but the inside is big enough for the both of us. I set up with a flashlight as my only resource of light. I help Persia put her things down for her to go to sleep and I would keep watch. I crawl outside while she sleeps, and the sky brightens up with the Capital seal. The faces of the deceased:

_**District 1: Crimson War**_

_**District 11: Jason Zing**_

The anthem plays and the it goes off. After seeing that Jason was dead, I feel bad for Artimis. She must be crying herself to sleep right now. Poor thing, I hope she gets to go home to see her family. I don't care if I win anymore, this is horrible, I was supposed to save Sestra. _She dropped the ball on any chances of her survival, literally, _I thought to myself. I see a silver parachute coming towards me. I open the can and find that it's hot soup and a note from Akiliya. A second one comes and floats into the cave, I'm guessing that it was for Persia.

I read the note which said, "Dear Echo, Sorry about your loses, I tried to get the whistle to you quicker but no one would pay quick enough. Either way here's some soup to keep you going for the next day or two, ration it safely, so it doesn't go to waste in one day. Love, Akiliya", the note made me cry. I wasn't hungry, but it reminded me of what I'm fighting for again. I'm fighting for my friends that died, and I'm fighting to go home to District 7. Everything seemed to be clear, so I crawled back into the cave and saw that Persia was sweating a lot, and she seemed to be breathing heavily. She has a fever! She must have been bitten by a Noise Cracker when she was trying to help Crimson, and got at least a little bit of the poison in her system.

Now I know what her gift was, medicine. I woke her up as quickly as possible, "Persia, Persia, wake up, take this quick!", I shout at her until she opens her mouth and I pour it in. Her skin, which was red because she was hot, calmed down to pink, and then back to normal. She was all better.

"Thank you, Echo, if you hadn't woke me up, I would've probably died in my sleep of that fever.", she says and I hug her because I couldn't think about losing her already. She stays up while I go to sleep.

"Oh, Persia there is soup in that canister, feel free to eat some." I say before I lay down and sleep for hours. I wake up to find that Persia is sleeping as well. She looks like she's been sleeping for as long as I have. She looks so peaceful. I wake her up with the least alarming voice I have, then I hear a cannon fire from outside. This wakes Persia up instantly.

We walk out of the cave and I could see down the mountain and I see Artimis being chased by something. I immediately know who the cannon belonged to. Excalibar.

Chapter 12

I see Artimis running screaming, and Persia and I jump into action leaving everything, knowing we'll come back for it. We run down to the side and Artimis falls and crawls backwards away from what is chasing her. We jump in front of her and I see that it's another Capital Mutation. This one I've never seen before. It's a bear with a very thin coat of fur, it had a dog face with sharp teeth and tusks, and it's body was covered in armor. It was snarling with blood in it's mouth.

I know Persia's arrows wouldn't pierce it and neather would Crimson's sword. I notice that there's an axe in it's back, so I can tell that Artimis tried to fight it off. I pull out the whip and I crack it at the mutt. I do this repeatedly until it get's scared enough to leave.

I dash to Artimis' side. She was breathing heavily, still exhausted from running. "Artimis, what happened? Where's Excalibar?", I yelled at her to get a hold of her attention.

"I don't know he ran the other way. That thing killed Nathine. It was horrible, it's teeth ripped him apart...", she answered hyperventilating.

"Get a hold of yourself!", Persia shouts slapping her twice across the face. I couldn't help but laugh a little.

"Okay, I'm fine!", she screams out. We start to walk away and I hear footsteps from behind us. I turn around and crack the whip getting Derma across the cheek but she shoots an arrow that hits Artimis in the chest. Derma holds her cheek and runs off. Artimis falls to her knees, and has a painfully surprised look on her face. The arrow went straight through her, and lodged itself in her chest.

"Echo...Persia, make sure you kill that...", Artimis says with her last breath. She falls backwards onto her back with her knees still folded. I took this as permission to leave, and I run seeing Derma in my sights, she looks back and starts to scream. I feel the rush of anger run down my face. I crack the whip and it rips the back of her shirt, and she cries out in pain. I try again but this time I trip and she gets away. Persia catches up to me, and she helps me up.

"Persia, we can't let them get away with doing stuff like that!", I say cringing from the fall. The cannon shoots out, and I know that Artimis is dead for sure.

"We won't, we'll kill them before they can get to any other one of us. Now come on, we got a useless mutt running around, that we have to kill.", Persia answers giving the most evil smile I'd ever seen from her.

We continue on looking for either Excalibar or Caston, Jareda, and Derma. While we walked, Persia and I reminiced about old times.

"Remember, the first free-for-all where we teamed up and you took out 4 people when we were surrounded.", I told her.

"You've done better in trainings. You were smart enough to get everyone in the electrified water, by setting the forest surronding us on fire, remember that was the third free-for-all!", we laughed, because besides my whipping people left and right, that was my crowning achievement. We slowed down to a meadow, not the one with the cornucopia, but a meadow with beautiful flowers and butterflies. I wasn't sure, but I think I can hear mockingjays singing too.

"This place is beautiful!" I say sounding the happiest I've had the whole time I've been in the arena. I hear another footstep uneven with ours, and like the first time, I threw the whip and I got something by the neck. I was hoping it was Jareda. I pulled whatever it was through the bushes it was hiding in, and my wish came true. It was Jareda.

I pulled her towards me and got her in a head lock. Persia readies her arrow, and points it at Jareda's heart. Jareda was able to choke out a couple words, "What are you doing I'm on your side!"

"Stop lying, Jareda, Artimis told us everything, that's why you ran away, right? You saw Artimis and knew she was going to tell us about your plan with Caston and Derma!", Persia says.

"One question before we kill you, Jareda.", I say

"What would that be?", Jareda answers.

"How did you know that I told Excalibar that secret?"

"I just happened to come in at the right moment, and I heard it all. I decided to use myself to kill you. Hey, Echo, guess what!", Jareda asks.

"What?", I answered.

"I told...Sestra to...drop her ball, and...I tripped Crimson!", she said laughing. I get furious and start to squeeze her neck harder. "Caston now!", she yells out, before I break her neck. Caston pops out of the tall grass and throws a spear at Persia, who at the same time fired an arrow into his cheek.

"Ah...", I hear Persia spit out as she falls to ground. Caston yells out louder and runs off. Jareda's cannon fired and I run to Persia's side.

"Persia, No!" I felt like crying but I know that I shouldn't in front of her.

"Echo, don't leave me here alone, please.", she breathes out.

"No, I'm not going anywhere!", I tell her.

"I'm not going to make it, Echo.", she says.

"No, you're going to make it, you're going to win this game. Be strong Persia! Please!"

"Sit me up against the tree, please", I do as she says, and I ask her why. "The sun is going down, and I wanted to see my last sunset." The hovercraft comes into view and picks up Jareda's body.

"It's not your last sunset! You're a fighter! Fight it, Persia, please! Fight!"

"Echo, I'm not stupid. I'm going down right now, just like the sun. Here take my pin. It's yours now.", she hands me her District token, a mockingjay pin, like my necklace. "Hey, Echo...Stop it. Smile. Come on smile, I want to see that thirteen year old I met in the arena, that one day.", she tells me and I try to smile, but I sort of get a mix of a laughing frown. "Come on before I go, I want to see a smile. Remember what we used to do when you were sad."

"Yes, I do.", I say and nod. I try to give her the smile she asked for, but it's still to hard.

"Yeah, you remember. I use to tickle you!", she pokes my stomach and she's laughing. I try to hold back my laughter but it gets out. "Can you sing to me...my favorite song. Remember the first one you sang when we met...the Hanging tree." I couldn't hold my tears in anymore, I was smiling but I was also crying. "Come on...cheer up. I'm going somewhere better than this place.", she wipes tears off my face. "Sing, Echo. You always were the best..."

I begin the song and I watch her slowly fade away. I shake her as I sing the song to keep her awake.

_"Are you, are you_

_Coming to the tree_

_Where they strung up a man they say murdered three._

_Strange things did happen here_

_No stranger would it be_

_If we met up at midnight in the hanging tree._

_Are you, are you_

_Coming to the tree_

_Where the dead man called out for his love to flee._

_Strange things did happen here_

_No stranger would it be_

_If we met up at midnight in the hanging tree._

_Are you, are you_

_Coming to the tree_

_Where I told you to run so we'd both be free._

_Strange things did happen here_

_No stranger would it be_

_If we met up at midnight in the hanging tree._

_Are you, are you_

_Coming to the tree_

_Wear a necklace of rope, side by side with me._

_Strange things did happen here_

_No stranger would it be_

_If we met up at midnight in the hanging tree."  
_

When I look up at her I see that her eyes are closed and she has a peaceful smile on her face. I try to wake her up. I slap her, but she doesn't wake up. No matter what I do she doesn't wake up and her smile never clears off her face. I'm on my knees yelling in pain at the top of my lungs. "Persia! Don't Go! Pleeeaase, Persia, please!" She doesn't move at all. While I'm breaking down next to her body, I realize that she is in a better place. Why else would she be smiling? I ly her body down so the falling sunlight can reach her. I wipe my tears and I kiss her forehead as a send-off. I take her bow and arrows and some supplies from her pack. I go and retrieve my whip, which is broken and useless to me. Persia's cannon fires, and the mockingjays flutter around and warn of the upcoming hovercraft. There is something odd about this hovercraft, it just zooms into view faster than the rest do, it quickly takes Persia, and as fast as it came into view, it leaves. As soon as it leaves there is silence for a minute and then the mockingjays continue singing. Only this time they are singing my song. I walk away and I don't look back, I don't want to see her being taken away completely.

I think about the song I had just sung to her. I meant a lot to me. My mother showed it to me, she said that her grandma showed it to her. I sung that song when I first met Persia in our first free-for-all beach arena. I find a tree to go to sleep in for the night, and I set up to wait for the anthem to play. The Capital seal appears and my dead friends faces appear:

_**District 2: Persia Ross**_

_**District 4: Jareda Asleen**_

_**District 6: Nathine Gallaghr**_

_**District 11: Artimis Zing**_

Chapter 13

I wake up the next morning. I get down from my perch and pack up. I put Persia's pin on my shirt and start to make my way. I don't know where I'm going, but all I know is that I'm out to kill. I walk about a mile when a silver parachute lands my way. I open the canister and I find a brand new metallic whip, gloves, and a note. The note said, "Dear Echo, Please except this whip as a gift of my gratitude for taking care of Persia. This new longer bullwhip should be able to assist you. Hold the handle strongly and see what happens, if you need something to keep the handle from hurting your palm I included the gloves for holding it. From your new Friend, Morson of District 2."

Morson...of District 2, that's Persia's Boyfriend...he is real! I do what the note said, and grip the handle tightly and thorns pop out of the whip. _Amazing_, I thought to myself. I try it out and aim for a boulder. I crack the whip and reduce the boulder to rubble. I use the gloves to retract the whip, which is why I notice there is sharp stone at the end of it, I feel it and I know it's a diamond. "Thank you, Morson! I hope you know that your girlfriend, my best friend, was the best person in all of Panem...", I shout out and I know that the cameras are on me now.

I continue on, and I come to a river and see that some of the rocks are blood stained. I follow them, and they lead me to an empty camp. I see sleeping bags, food, and Derma with her hair tied in a pony tail, practicing fighting on a tree. I hide my whip and put down my stuff down and say, "Hey, Derma.", she turns around surprised.

"Oh, Hi, Echo. I didn't think you'd ever find me.", she says wrapping bandages around her hands and making fists.

"And pass up the oppurtunity of killing you myself, never!" I say getting ready for a hand to hand fight.

"That's funny, you think you're going to kill me...just like Caston did to Persia, and I did to Artimis and Kessie?", she laughs. This makes me mad and I move in close and spit on her! "Oh, a fiesty one, huh!", she releases a whip from beind her showing me that she has my old one.

"How did you..."

"I've been watching you in training, I learned how to fix a broken one and how to make one.". We start to circle with eyes locked on each other.

"Derma, you always were a little girl. Now, put the whip down, you have no idea what you're doing."

"Why should I, so you could get it?"

"Derma, I don't need a whip, badly fixed like that, to kill you... just like I did to Nathine and Jareda." I know I didn't actually kill Nathine, but Derma was in love with him, and just like she mocked me by pointing out Persia's death, I pointed out Nathine's death. This made her angry and she charged. She started throwing punches and I threw them right back. She kicked my side, and I tripped her and made her eat dirt. She threw a spear head into my temple. I pushed her head against a tree. She punched me in the mouth, and I pulled her hair backwards.

This went on for 2-3 minutes until she got far away enough to try and whip me. She cracked it once, but since I'm more experienced I grab the whip and snap it right back at her. She loses control of it and the handle whips her in the eye. "Ah! My eye!" she screams holding her face, "You better pray you win this fight, or I'm gonna torture the hell out of you.", she sighs and picks up the whip, but before she does I pull out mine and show it off. Her jaw drops, and her eyes get big. She drops the whip and tries to run.

"Not this time!" I crack the whip and make sure it wraps around her. I pull her in and she begins to beg.

"Please, don't kill me. I have so much to live for!", she starts to beg.

"Ah, what's the matter Derma? I'm guessing that you didn't pray to win this fight, because now I'm gonna torture the hell out of you!", all this killing and dying has gone straight to my head, because right now I don't feel the guilt I would've had from the beginning of the games. I slowly start to squeeze the handle, and she starts to release sharp squeals of pain. She looks up toward the sky and lets out one last shriek, and she passes out of the pain.

I release her of the whip and using the diamond on the point of the whip to write a message in the dirt for Caston or Excalibar to find next to Derma. I write down "Meet me at the cornucopia, Love Echo!". She starts to come to, and I finish her with a powerful crack of the whip, which wraps around her neck. I release the thorns from the whip, and pull it tightly so she runs out of air, and at that moment her cannon fires. I walk up to her body and look at the girl who killed some of my friends, I spit on her and say, "Pathetic...".

I walk away and realize that I just killed an innocent girl. The girl that I talked to that day on the roof. The girl whose mother is all she has. I remember in the 4th free-for-all, I found Derma hiding in bushes, shaking. She was alone. For some, reason nobody liked her. I decided to help her. We made it to the final five before the other three, besides us, Jenten, Darwin, and Crimson, went on to knocking us out. I just finished off the shy, hated girl hiding in the bushes. I remember the look in her big brown eyes when I found her. She had arrows in her hand but she didn't know how to use them. After we had been knocked out, I taught her how to use them, and in exchange she taught me some stuff from District 5. Now the little twelve year old from three years ago, was dead.

I get my things and start on my way back to the cornucopia. Stupid Caston must of thought that leaving Derma to protect their supplies was enough. Obviously not. I take his iron claws, just in case of we get into close combat. I throw all there food in the river and take some myself.

I end up going up the mountain where Persia and I stayed the last night she was alive, and I see that the hovercraft has just taken Derma's body. I starts to rain and I think it would be better to wait in the cave for the rain to stop. I sneak into the cave. I realize we left Persia's silver parachute, and there is a note attached to it, I didn't even notice it. I pick it up and read it. "Dear Persia, This is a remedy for a fever which you obviously have. It is straight from the District 2 hospital that we run. Think of us when your cured, and we'll be waiting at home. Love, Mom and Dad", it was heart felt and I'm glad that Persia had something from home before she passed. I fall asleep in no time and before you know it I'm awaken by the anthem playing in the rainy sky. I slept through the whole day. I see the one face and it's of the person I was happy to release from these games.

_**District 5: Derma Majester**_

Something different happened tonight after the anthem played again. Claudius Templesmith's, the announcer, voice came on and announced, "Now, That there is only four of you left, we will be serving a very special dinner at the Cornucopia tomorrow, and all four of you are invited. Have a nice day, and may the odds be ever in your favor!", and as quickly as his voice came in, it's out.

Four of us? I only remember that it's Excalibar, Caston, and...oh. I remember now. Trenton from District 8. I saw him when I was running from the cornucopia. I saw him run into the forest without anything._ I appluad the boy from District 8 who scored an 11, he's been able to make it this far without anything_. A cannon fires. _Oh, never mind._

I wake up the next morning and I know that I'm going straight to the cornucopia, because I have a dinner date with one of Panem's eligable bachelors, and one that is soon to be married. I feel like I should do something to show that Persia was my friend, and if I die people will always know. Over the mouth of the cave I carve in, "Here lies the friendship of Echo Ivy and Persia Ross, two mockingjays that seperated to soon."

I locate where the cornucopia might be from the top of the mountain, and I also see dark ominous clouds over it. I pull out some dried fruit, and some of the leftover soup that Akiliya had sent me two days ago. I start walking in the general direction of the cornucopia, and I pass a cave that I was positive wasn't there. This is where Artimis got shot by Derma, and where Artimis was cornered by the cliff wall. There was no huge cave behind us when we saved her. I hear low-pitch screeching voices from inside the cave, and I know what it is, a nest of Bellow Bats. I was once attacked by some in the 2nd free-for-all in the Elite's training ground. The arena was in an underground chasm. They're also Capitol Mutations.

These nasty little creature are bats that don't have eyes. but they can sense anything. Movement, breathing, heartbeats, etc. The edges of their wings can cut through skin, and they have screeches that are really low, so it's sort of like an explosion when they get together. These facts are enough for me to get ready to run when I hear their bellows beginning to get closer.

I start to run and I was right, they were coming out, and nothing I can do can keep them from sensing me. I see some getting closer to me and I can feel their wings slashing my back. I can see more trees, like the ones I found on the first day, and I can hear buzzing. A loud powerful buzzing, and from a cross two rows of trees, I see Excalibar running from Tracker Jackers. Tracker Jackers are the deadliest type of wasps/hornets in the world. Also Capital Mutations.

Chapter 14

He's jumping off fallen logs. I think that this is my chance to get rid of him, but if I attack him I'll have Tracker Jackers, and Bellow Bats on my tail. I see Excalibar uses a slingshot to distract the Tracker Jackers. I remember that I have my whistle, the one sent to me to get rid of the Noice Crackers. I find it in my pocket and struggle to get it in my mouth. Once it's in, I blow on it so hard, the Bellow Bats start to retreat quickly and I see that some of the Tracker Jackers are falling dead one by one.

I see Excalibar run towards me. I expect to be attacked, so I bring out the whip. He stops and quickly and catches his breath. "Echo...you're still alive!", he cheers and tries to get near me, but after being here for a week and a half, I'm not used to getting touched.

"Excalibar, what happened after you and Artimis seperated?" I say, still having the whip ready. He explains the story on how they got seperated by the rhinoca-bear. He says he soon meet up a couple times with Caston and they've been having fights with no big results. I tell him what had happened since he seperated from Artimis. He was distraught when I told him about Persia's death. After our conversation we agreed to team up until Caston was dead, and then we are free to turn our weapons on each other.

We walk to the cornucopia, and I see the spot where Juno was killed. I could still see the blood drenched grass from where I axed Issac in the head. If that's here, then I'm near the platform from where I started. Where I saw Sestra blow herself up. _I forgot the ball,_ I remember, that's why I came back, and met Persia, Excalibar, and Crimson. "Wait up a minute, Excalibar, I need to get something." I see a bush of flowers and I pick some. Excaliber follows me around the other platforms. I put a flower on each platform that belonged to the people who had died, except for Persia and Sestra, I put four on theirs. The platform that belonged to Sestra was still scorched.

Excalibar patted my back, and I let him, because I know I could've trusted him. I hear a loud roar, and I see Caston running towards us with his spear ready to throw. The roar didn't come from him or the Noise Crackers chasing him, which as soon as he started to go down to the cornucopia, stopped. We went straight down to end his life in this arena. Then I realize that that the roar came from the earth. It was an earthquake. The ground was opening around the cornucopia. I didn't know what to do it was just horrible. I couldn't stand at all, I was falling on all fours constantly. I see a crack in the floor opening up before me, so I know I have to get myself, and Excalibar across safely. I grab his arm and jump over the opening. We're going left and right trying to avoid the opening cracks in the earth below us. As soon as I reach the cornucopia, the earth's trembling seems to soften, and then fades away completely. It starts to drizzle, and the gray clouds above us start to crack with thunder.

We climb the cornucopia and meet Caston on the top. The earthquake was caused by the gamemakers, obviously. Excalibar instantly jumps on to Caston and they fight. I didn't know what to do. I told Excalibar to hold him down so I can kill Caston. "I'm trying!" he yelled out everytime. Then I got the bow and arrow in perfect position to hit Caston, but he sees me, and when I shoot the arrow, he tosses Excalibar in front of himself and I hear a low grunt come from him. The arrow pierced his heart. Caston pushes him off and he jumps on me. _This is it, Caston just won the 55th annual Hunger Games, the odds were always in his favor_, I thought as I saw my whole life in the arena flash before my eyes.

"I killed Persia, Urwin, Trenton, Lilia, and now I'm going to kill you!", he said. _What was with his team and mocking me?_

I can see that the sky above me is dark and I can see sparks in the cloud. I spit in his face and say, "I killed Jareda, Derma, Issac, Richest, and Nathine your kills aren't anything compared to mine!".

"I'm going to enjoy doing this!", he growls and he raises up the spear. I'm not down for the count though. He stabs it down into where I am, but I move my head, I push him off and I get up. I plunge one of Persia's arrows into his back. He shouts in pain but it's not enough to kill him. I grab Crimson's sword and drive it through his shoulder and pin him to the cornucopia. He refuses to die, so I pull a dagger out of Excalibar's pocket and pin his leg down to the cornucopia.

Caston screams out in pain, but he's still alive and cursing at me. I didn't know what else to do. I hear something beeping, I look up and see a parachute, and I see a rod with a spike for an end. It's for me. No note, but the side says it all, it's a lightning rod. I grab Excalibar and throw him over the side of the cornucopia making sure he lands on my pack that I threw done before him.

Caston is yelling, kicking and is trying to get detached from the cornucopia. It seems to be helping him because the dagger and the sword seem to wiggle out, but I did not come all this way, and lose all my friends, to lose. I grabbed the lightning rod and shout out, " Hey Caston, Persia's arrow, Crimson's sword, Excalibar's knife, and my lightning rod! Think of this as a reunion of parting friends!", and I push it into his right sholder and I make sure it finds its way through the cornucopia. He's stuck for sure. He realize's what I just did, and he starts to yell out, "Don't leave me to die this way! You bastard!".

I jump off and land on the packs. I pick them up and I carry Excalibar away from the cornucopia. I don't dare look back, when I hear the lightning hit, I hear Caston's scream for a short period, and zap, he was dead. Everything on the cornucopia went flying into the air, and his cannon fired.

I dragged Excaliber to his platform and I waited for him to die, because he was on the fast track to doing that. I sat next to him, and he started to talk. "Echo, If you win, tell Carmenella that I love her, now and forever."

"I will..", I look him in the eyes and say, then I wonder, _what does he mean by "If"_, and it hits me. Well, actually Excalibar stabs me.

Chapter 15

Excalibar just stabbed me in the stomach. I'm bleeding out quickly, so I look at him and I tell him what I've always thought of him. "Excalibar, you were my hero. I looked up to you, I saw you like a brother.", I started to choke, feeling the blood pouring out of my mouth.

"I'm sorry Echo, I have to go back and see Carmenella! I'm sorry for everything. Forgive me?", he says crying, with his face covered in blood stains. I remember saying that if I made it to the final two with Excalibar, I would give up my life so he can continue on. It makes sense, because out of all of us, Excalibar would probably be the best Elite. Then it would be Persia, Urwin, Crimson, and then me. I guess I'm going to stay true to what I said. Excalibar is going to win this, now I'm just going to close my eyes, slip away, and then meet up with all the other Elites in that better place people call death.

"I do.", these are my last words to him. When I look up I see that the spear that Caston tried to impale me with, is coming down with a lot of velocity. I see it land right next to me and in Excalibar. The cannon fires and I close his eyes. I start to sing safe and sound again because I know I'm going to die right know as well. I hear trumpets playing and Claudius Templesmith is saying something, everything is fading out to me, ao I can barely understand.

I fall back and I see that I'm being lifted into the sky by the hovercraft above me. _What's the use I'm already going to die, and if there's a chance of saving me, just let me die. All my friends are dead._ All I know is everything is fading away.

I wake up and find that I'm no longer in the arena. I'm on a table in what I think is a hospital. The door slides open and Akiliya walks in. She looks happy to see me. "Echo, congradulations! You won!", she says while hugging me.

"Wait, where's Sestra...and Excalibar...and Persia?", I look around hysterically to see if they're here and about to pop out and surprise me.

"Echo, don't you remember?", Akiliya sits down next to me. "They died...in the arena...with you."

"I died?"

"Only a matter of minutes, but they were able to revive you.", she explains.

"No, you're playing a trick on me, Persia and Excaliber are going to pop out of those curtains, huh? And Sestra...Sestra is probably home right now eating dinner with her family.", I run to the curtains and push them apart to see that no one is there. I see a window, I can see that I'm high up, because I can see towers and the top of buildings. I was still in the Capital. "If they're not there, then I'm guessing Sestra isn't back home in District 7. What happened, Akiliya?", my eyes tear up.

"You won the Hunger Games.", this statement alone answers all my questions, all my friends were dead. I get walked to the room where I lived in the week before the games. When I'm inside I realize that my wound might still be bleeding, I lift up my shirt but nothing is there. It's like the games had been wiped away from my physical appearence and some from my memory.

I take a shower, and I dress, I jump onto the bed. I start this weird mixture of laughing and crying. I start off by crying, and then it becomes a scene. I'm laughing just because I can. Everything becomes a joke to me. Seran comes rushing into the room, "What's the matter?", she says in her high-pitched voice.

"I just won the Hunger Games!", I say laughing with tears in my eyes. Later on that night I try going to sleep knowing what dreams and nightmares await me. I start to countdown the people who were in the arena with me to help me sleep.

_**District 1: Richest Wave**_

_**District 1: Crimson War**_

_**District 2: Excalibar Precense**_

_**District 2: Persia Ross**_

_**District 3: Darwin Bolt**_

_**District 3: Nessa Wire**_

_**District 4: Caston Segwada**_

_**District 4:**_ _**Jareda Asleen **_

_**District 5: Issac Stroid**_

_**District 5: Derma Majester**_

_**District 6: Nathine Galaghr**_

_**District 6: Caitlyn Calliton**_

_**District 7: Sestra Celenova**_

_**District 8: Trenton Venoose**_

_**District 8: Lilia Harvord**_

_**District 9: Alex Zecko**_

_**District 9: Clydessa Dardez**_

_**District 10: Urwin Carnivous**_

_**District 10: Kessie Firstina**_

_**District 11: Artimis Zing**_

_**District 11: Jason Zing**_

_**District 12: Jenten Mao**_

_**District 12: Juno Badge**_

I miss them all. I loved all of them, even though they turned evil in the games, it wasn't there fault. It was the Capital's fault for pinning us there against our will. _Pin!_ I got up and turn on the light, and searched for Persia's pin and my necklace, and there they were on the nightstand. I feel safe again, knowing that the two mockingjays were back together again. I held on to the pin, which to me symbolizes my best friend's spirit being with me.

I woke up the next day and was sent to my prep team, to be prepped for the presentation of the victor, which is me. They all start to cry, because they truly are happy to see me. They get me ready, and they send me off to the head stylist, Tigris. I practically run into the room and yell out, "Tigris, I'm ba-". It's not Tigris in the room, but Stone, Sestra's stylist. "Hello, Stone, where's Tigris?", I ask.

"She was fired, but she told me to give this to you if you won!", Stone says handing me an envelope. I take a card out, and it has a paw print as a design. I open the card and it says, "Congradulations, Echo. If you are reading this you've won the Hunger Games. Don't worry about me, but for now listen to Stone I left him a design made especially for you. It's simple, but it's something not a lot of designers do anymore, it's unique...like you. Good Luck, and I'll see you at the banquet for your sponsers. Love, Tigris".

I felt lucky to have known her and glad that I will see her again. "Let's do this Stone!", I say. He gets me prepared just as quick as Tigris did.

Chapter 16

"Ladies and Gentlemen! The winner of the 55th Annual Hunger Games...Echo Ivy!", Caesar Flickerman cheers on while I walk down the steps to my seat.

"Hello again, Caesar!" I say.

"Hello to you, too. As you know you've won the Hunger Games, that's one title on it's own, but you won a very special one. Do you know why?" he asks me, I can feel the cameras zoom in on me.

"Yes, because I beat every other Elite." I say nodding my head.

"Yes, what a smart boy you are. Now that means you're the best Elite in all of Panem. I mean your smart, compassionate, agile, strong, and really good looking!", the audience goes crazy, "Come on we got some clips, let's show him what we're talking about. We'll start out with agility.", a monitor shows a clip of me running from Crimson and doing a perfect jump over the fallen tree. "Now let's show him compassionate!", a clip of me helping Persia, and singing to Excalibar and her. "Now strong!" a clip of me breaking Jareda's neck, and killing Issac, Caston, Richest, and Derma. "let's move on to smart." It shows my final moments in the arena. Caston pinned to the cornucopia, and me "strategically" placing Excalibar on the platform where the spear later landed on him. "And good-looking...well your the one sitting in front of us!"

"Thank you, I appreciate it. Especially from a city filled with beautiful people!" Everyone applauds themselves. _Yeah, a city of stuck-up, self-centered..._Caesar interupts my train of thought, "You're also very talented. That singing, it was superb. Where did you learn to sing like that! And the song itself made me cry so much when you sang it to Persia! I almost cried all over myself and Claudius!", he laughs and so does the audience.

"Singing comes natural to me. It's probably heredity, my mother is just as good as me or even better. The song was taught to me by my mother and she was taught by her grandmother."

"Well can I ask you a couple a questions, is that okay?"

"You ask the questions you want!", I answer.

"Okay, How did you know where to put Excalibar so he could get killed by the spear?"

"Actually, I didn't know that would happen, I thought Excalibar would die on his own of the bleeding."

"Wow! So it was just fate that helped you win! It sounds like there is someone up there keeping an eye out for you!"

"I guess that there is, so many people wanted to help me win. It was either that or the odds were really in my favor.", I state and the crowd laughs.

"Yes, Persia and Sestra. Now tell me how did you feel when you saw Sestra...blow herself...sky high?"

"I felt like giving up on everything, like I should've stepped off the plate and blown myself up, but I knew there were people back home depending on me to return."

"How long did you know Persia?"

"Since our first training in the Elite Ground. I meet her while we were practicing in an old Beach Arena. We teamed up and got to the end, but we were knocked out. She really was my best friend."

After an hour of clips of me and answering questions we come to the conclusion. Caesar says "This our last question, are you ready?"

"Shoot..."

"How do you feel about all your friends that died in the arena?" cameras zoom in on me, and people all over are sitting on the edge of their chairs.

"That's not a hard question to answer," I start off saying, " I respected all of them. I loved them all. When it came down to it we were always a family, we could always depend on each other. I feel that they are the lucky ones. They are all in a better place. I remember that Persia told me to lean her against the tree so she could see her last sunset. To me that was the only beauty in this world, and I feel that every one of the Elites knew how to appreciate this beauty. Now everytime I see the sunset or sunrise I will always think of them, and the fun times we've had together. I will look at the sun and know that each of my friends is safe and sound."

_**The End**_


	6. Chapter 6

_Safe & Sound_

Chapter 1

We all stand for the Anthem of Panem. We stand through the history of our country and how "wonderful" it is. Ever since the reaping three years ago, I bear total and complete hatred towards the Capital, and it's politicians. We all sit down, because the Escort, Seran Arrow, is about to begin this horrible ceremony. She stands on tall shoes that make it look like it's harder for her to walk. Her wood brown mini dress tops a longer dark green one. Her hair is down and it practically looks like a sheild. She always dresses like a crazy tree, in honor of the tributes that have died under her watch. She pulls out a name from the girl's bowl and then the boy's bowl. While she does this I have a horrible flashback to the reaping three years ago. In that reaping the name for the girls belonged to one of two of my bestfriends, Venice. She was sent up, and before Seran could read the name for the boys, my other best friend volunteered to be the boy tribute of District 7 to help protect Venice. I return to this point in time and she is about to randomly chose which envelope to open first, the boys or the girls.

She grabs the envelope, kisses it, and says "May the odds be ever in your favor!". She opens it, and she nods. "Echo Ivy!" The whole square goes silent and turns to me. I'm not worried one bit about the Hunger Games, not after all the training I've recieved, if anything this is really unfair to the other District tributes. I get up off my seat and walk up to the stage. The Peacekeepers don't bother to guard me on the way up, they know I'll go without a fight. I don't know what to say about the girl who gets chosen.

"Ladies, you next!", she says and looks over to the side with the girls in it. She studies the card and then smirks. "Clair Orchid...", she says. I know this name, and the odd of me winning have just became 22 out of 24.

"Wait!", someone yells out in the crowd of girls everyone turns. "I volunteer!" I scan the area for the idiot who just volunteered to be sent to their death. I look and there is a circle of girls around one who stands up off her seat. Sestra! She runs up to the stage and climbs up to the stage and yells out again, "I volunteer as tribute!". My odds just droped from 22 to 0 out of 24. I couldn't kill my(figurative) little sister.

"Okay, we have our tributes of District 7! Echo Ivy and...Sestra Celenova!", Seran calls out the names again, as Sestra and I stand in front of everyone in District 7. I can see my father holding my mother as she weeps hysterically. My older brother next to them, he stares at us and his eyes are red with anger, because he knows he can't do anything for me now. Sestra moves in closer to me and hugs me. I'm still angry with her because of the stunt she just pulled.

Seran, our escort, moves in front of us and announces that we will now be allowed to see our visitors in the Justice Building. We are walked in while our new mentor, Akiliya Becca, talks to Seran. I walk in my room, where I will await my visitors. First it's my mom and dad, along with my little sister, Brazilia.

"We'll be rooting for you!" my mom said holding in tears.

"We'll be waiting to see you back here, don't worry if you remember everything the training has taught you, you will come back.", my dad says assuring me that I was going to make it. I hold Brazilia and cradle her in my arms, as she coos and giggles, I couldn't help but think that this would be the last time I'd ever see her. The peacekeepers pull them out and I kiss Brazilia goodbye, and the door slams. A minute of silence passes and my brothers rush in and surround me. My little brother, Leo, grabs on to me and he holds on while my older brother, Arslo, and I talk.

"You are going to be okay," he says grabbing me by the shoulders and shaking me, "as long as you use what the training taught you."

"I remember every single thing, but it's not me you should worry about me, take care of Brazilia and Leo!", as I say his name he squeezes me harder. "Leo!", I yell at him, "Listen to me. I'm probably not gonna come back..."

"Echo, he doesn't want to hear this!" Arslo stops me.

"No, he has to know!" I continue, "If I don't come back, you have to promise to take care of Brazilia, and yourself. Pay attention to everything Dad and Arslo teach you! Promise!" he nods. The poor thing is mute, doesn't talk for anything. I never knew why, and I might never will. "Arslo, when you leave, can you ask Sestra's dad to come?"

"I will, but for now good-bye, Jabberjay." he reaches over and puts his favorite necklace around my neck. It's a mockingjay in a gold circle and an arrow in its beak.

"I can't take it, it's yours." I protest.

"Think of it as a family emblem, and a district token. Plus it's good luck. I know how much you like to sing, and this little fellow represents that." I was ready to start crying and then the Peacekeepers come in and pulls them out.

"Take care of the family, both of you, I'll be back, I promise." I yell out a lie after they leave. Right after they leave my friend, Clair, walks in. She was supposed to be the girl tribute until Sestra, volunteered for the spot.

"I'm sorry, that I'm not going in with you..." she said muffling the words by covering her mouth, so I wouldn't hear that she was going to cry.

"Don't worry you couldn't do anything about it." I hug her before she starts to explode with tears. Sestra volunteered for her and I'm still mad at her. Now that she is in it, it means that I'm going to have to try to protect my dear friend with my life.

"I came to give you this, they all pitched in, they bought it as soon as you were sent in here." she says handing me a card with all my friends name on it. "They knew you wouldn't have enough time to see us all.", She was right and even right now I only have about 15 minutes left to still see people. We talk more, and she encourages me that it isn't unfair to use all the things I've been taught as an Elite. This is something we are trained in, to survive a Hunger Game. What were the chances that both Elites of District 7 would be chosen as tributes. This is absolute craziness. A couple more friends walk in after her, and we all enjoy our last conversation. "Remember, you don't have to kill anyone, you just have to survive.", Clair recounts to hug goodbye, and they all leave, only to be followed by Sestra's dad.

"I'm sorry, that your daughter volunteered to help me.", I say looking down at my feet knowing that he might be holding a grudge on me for somehow getting his daughter to face certain death.

"She did do it to protect you, but she also said that as her last wish, she doesn't want me to be angry at you. I wasn't in the first place, I know she sees you like a big brother, and that's why she did it.", he assures me that he isn't angry at me.

"I promise that she will be back, I am going to protect her, even if it means my death.", I look him in the eye. I can tell that it makes him feel better. The Peacekeepers escort him out and I'm off to the train. On the way ther I have another flashback. It was watching my friend, Joel volunteering to help Venice in the 52nd annual Hunger Games. I remember seeing him get killed on the screen in the town square. I really hope that this volunteering business won't end up like the one from three years past. Joel made the same promise to protect Venice, just like I promised to protect Sestra. Hopefully I don't fail like he did. I hope...

Chapter 2

I walk into the train station being escorted by the Peacekeepers, and the train awaits us. I step on the plate waiting for the door to open for us. I look back to see what I'm leaving behind, I see my family and friends looking at us as with despair in their eyes. The door slides open and we're hit with cool air from what Seran says is called an air conditioner. I walk in and rush to a window to see us pulling out of the station. When I reach it, my family has passed already.

I walk into my quarters for the trip to the Capital, and I practically drool over the rooms features. I haven't been in one of these trains since I was 13, when I had just been chosen to be part of a group called the Elites. They sent us to the Capital, as part of an examianation, which I passed. Two kids from each district were sent as part of it, randomly. We've had training sessions since then, but we don't go in these fancy trains anymore. It's always a hovercraft. Just thinking about being an Elite scares me. Especially what I have to do in case I'm ever chosen as a tribute in the Hunger Games. I can't even think about it, so I do anything to get my mind off of it.

I walk into the shower and spend at most twenty-five minutes. I push all the buttons that I remember using. When I come out, I smell like a whole bouquet of different flowers, and the shower is litered with dirt and pine needles that we're still left on me. They left clothes in the closet space in the room, and I don't remember that being there when I came in. Whatever. I chose a simple black shirt, and jeans. I put on the Mockingjay necklace, and head off to the dining hall. There I find Akiliya talking to Sestra, this is there first time meeting, but I've known Akiliya for a long time.

I first met Akiliya when one of my assignments as an Elite was to learn and study from a past winner. I was given Akiliya to learn with. She was the only one in her game that killed people. The careers from her games all died in a mountain explosion, which did wipe off most of the tributes. All she had was a pack and a single rope. She turned it into a lasso and used it to kill off the rest of the tributes. I also liked how she got people to believe she was a weak contendor. She used sadness, and "depression" to convince people she wasn't worth the kill.

I get to the buffet and stack my plate with so much food, yet I contained myself so I can impress our Escort, Seran. She has as much power over sponsers as Akiliya. I sit down with all them at the table, and they are talking about what we have to do to look appealing to sponsers. I've had this talk with Akiliya already so I can sit back, eat, and listen. I already know this stuff anyways. As an Elite, I'm trained in almost everything imaginable. I already planned what I want for us to wear for the presentation while I was taking shower. The pine needles were my inspiration for this.

"So what your saying is that I'll need to pretty up more than I usually do?", Sestra asks questioning it. Around District 7 no one usually "pretties" up, girls at school usually keep there hair down, or in a pony tail. I know what to do to my hair, I know that to the Capital, the bigger the better. A boy's hair is simple, spike it up, or hike it down. I'm thinking about doing something completely different.

"That's exactly what I'm saying, just ask Echo over here, he knows about it, after all he is an Elite.", Akiliya answers her pointing me out.

"An Elite?", she asks looking at me more intrested than she has ever.

"It's nothing big...", I tell her. I never really told Sestra about my Elite Status, even though I trained her with some weapons, that I keep hidden.

"Nothing big!", Seran cuts in, "Elites are something really big in the districts and even in the Capital!", she exclaims.

"Wait, what's an Elite?", Sestra asks finally.

"An Elite is someone who is knowingly being trained by the Capital, and in the event of another war, they are are used as leaders in the Capital's side. They are only 24, two from each district.", Akiliya says as if she's making me look a lot better, "We are going to use his Elite status to help us get sponsers for you two."

"It honestly is nothing, Sestra.", I say to her so she ignores it, but she keeps pushing it.

"It is something...this is what's going to keep you alive, which tribute is going to mess with an Elite!", she's overjoyed.

"I know it'll keep me alive, but what's gonna keep you alive!", I get up and slam my hands down on the table.

"What do you mean, what's gonna keep me alive, it's you who has to live, you're an Elite.", she says jumping up as well. "Am I right?", she looks around and everyone has averted there eyes to me, they want me to tell her the truth.

I sit down, and I tell her, "Sestra, Elite's are killing machines. If an Elite is ever chosen to be part of the Hunger Games, it's his or her job to win...no matter what."

"Tell her the rest...", Akiliya tells me softly.

"Tell me what?", Sestra lowers her volume.

"It's my job to kill my district partner, as long as he or she is not another Elite.", I finally say. The whole cart goes silent. Seran gets up walks over to a velvet couch and continues doing her make up. Akiliya looks down at her plate and continues to eat.

"Well, then I don't have to protect you anymore? Because as soon as you see me in the arena you'll have to kill me?", Sestra sits back down.

"No, not true, there is a loop hole.", Seran says with a smile holding back a giggle, as if we were going to thank her for her knowledge. We all look at her waiting for the answer, especially me because I really don't want to kill my figuritive little sister. "Well, if you have to know, in order for an elite to avoid killing their district partner, his or her partner has to get a score of nine or higher."

I see hope, but all she has to do is get a high score, and I've taught Sestra a couple of weapons. Iron claws, swords, and bows and arrows. "Seran! Is there anywhere on the train were we could train?", I ask her in a hurry.

"There is a cart in the back.", she answers.

"Thank you, Seran!", I hug here abruptly, grab Sestra, and I rush off to the back.

In the cart, I showed how to use her weapons. When she was able to get a hang of it, I let her go to her room to rest. As I was about to leave I spot a whip, and a thick wooden target. In no time I pull the whip out and break the target, just to see if I could still do it.

I look around for a scythe, which was the first weapon I had ever used in my life. Besides an axe, but I just used axes to cut down a tree. I cut targets with the scythe, leaving no target untouched. I go to iron claws, which are just metallic shackles that have long iron blades coming from them. I use them to finish the rest of the cut up targets. I spend more time in the back cart practicing, having fun with the weapons. I eventually look at the clock and see that it's 11 at night. I walk back to the main cart feeling accomplished. It's dark except for the lit up screen of a television. It's the re-run of the reapings in all the Districts. Right now it's just Caesar Flickerman talking about something Capital related.

Akiliya and Seran walk in from nowhere and we start watching re-runs of the reapings in other districts. It begins with District 1. Richest Wave and Crimson War. Wait I know them they're also Elites like me. District 2, Excaliber Presence and Persia Ross. _They're Elites also_. Something was definately weird. I saw the tributes continue Districts 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12. They were all Elites.

Except for Sestra, and the boy from District 11, all of them were Elites. I was scared just seeing all these people get chosen and I was glad that Sestra didn't see this. "How do you feel, Echo?", Akiliya asked knowing all the faces of the Elites.

"I feel like I'm about to have to kill 22 of my closest friends...", I say staring at the screen distantly.

Chapter 3

The announcer, Caeser Flickerman, interupted my train of thought. Seran turns it off, and tells me to go to bed "tomorrow is a really big, big, big day". I'm pretty sure that they were discussing our strategy since the old one about using my Elite status is a bust.

After my shower, I go to sleep to have a dream about all my elite friends, and especially which ones were going to fall at my hands or whip. I dream about my first day at the Elite training building at the Capital. Persia, tribute from district 2, helped me on the first Free-for-all battle, all for one and one for all in a pretend Arena. She and I teamed up when I caught her half dead of deadly poisons from a Noise Cracker. We went on to kill(knock out) 6 opponents.

It's followed by a dream of the day I met Jareda from District 4, she was amazing when it came to swinging her mace around. We met when we caught each other in our second Free-For-All. We met during a sunset at a cliff in a mountainous arena. The mace caught me offguard, I didn't expect it to come from such a beautiful girl like herself. We knocked each other out and we spent the day with each other when we were resting in the training building. I remember that at first she was mad at me for eliminating her from the game. Apparently she was trying to talk more to her District partner, she eventually told me she liked him. I told her I would make it up to her, and I was able to sneak us out of the training building, which apparently is hidden in a flower-filled plain. I can honestly say that if it wan't for her crush on Caston, I could have fallen in love with her. I guess we just weren't meant for each other.

They eventually became a couple. They lasted for about a month or two, and poof it was over. Once I had found this out, I thought I should've revisited my feelings for her, but those feelings weren't there anymore.

I woke up in a cold sweat after a nightmare of me killing Excalibar, one of the Elites I idolize. Excalibar reminds me of my own brother. Caston, from District 4, looks like my older brother, I remember the first time I saw him, I almost called out, "Arslo!", that's how much they look alike. I took a shower and went to breakfast and saw that Sestra, was looking out the window watching the scenery. It was mountainous and the train tracks went over a lake. I gave her a hug and told her, "Sestra, we're going to have to win the crowd over today, you understand that right?"

"I do!", she says hugging me back.

"We have to work together so you can win!", I say.

"I don't care if I win, you are more important than me, you have to win!"

"No! You have a lot more to live for...you have a little sister that depends on you to return, and your Father is more broken than anyone in District 7. He already lost your brother, and your Mom. That poor man doesn't deserve to lose another loved one in his life.", I tell her assertively, and she nods because she knows it's true. We start to pull into the station, I can see the crowds. I start to wave and blow kisses to them, some of them pretend to catch my kisses, and I look at Sestra to join me. She does, and she's more of a hit than I would I've thought.

I see that the other trains have pulled in and I see the tributes of all the other districts outside and I'm filled with happiness that I see all of them again since the last time we met which is about a months ago, but this time there is much more on the line. I run towards Persia and give her the biggest hug, while Sestra goes with Seran to her room.

"Persia!", I say cheering.

"Hey Jabberjay, How have you been!", she says with the same tone of voice I had.

"I'm good let's go say hi to others!", I say and we walk off to meet the tributes from Districts 11. Artimis and Jason. It turns out that Jason is Artimis' older brother, he told me that he came here to protect his little sister, and I understand why he would come.

I look around and see that Jareda from District 4 is here and she's talking to District 5's very own Issac and Derma. I look back and I see her holding hands with someone, her district partner, Caston. They're back together. I felt happy for them, and also a bit jealousy, I don't know why but I did. I disregard the feeling and keep myself in a good mood for when I talk to them right now. I walk up to Jareda, and greet them both. I hug her, and I tell Caston hello. The whole time they do not let go of each other's hand. "Echo, how have you been!", Jareda says.

"I've been great, and I can see you two are too!", I direct attention to their new relationship.

"Yeah, we are happy together. I'm happy that were happy together.", Caston says laughing. Jareda grabs Persia's hand and asks Caston for permission to go talk to someone. He allows it and turns to me. "So how have you been?", he puts his hands in his pocket. and he sounds a bit angry.

"Good, why so angry, Caston?", I ask him.

"Because I want you to stay away from Jareda.", he says in an angry hushed tone, while he grabs my wrist.

"What...why?", I say holding in the look of pain on my face.

"You know why. You like Jareda. You're the reason why we broke up in the first place.", he tightens his grip.

"What are you talking about, I don't know why you guys broke up in the first place."

"You dirty liar, I broke up with her because she cheated on me with you!"

"That's stupid. It's true I had feelings for her once but not anymore, I'm glad you guys are back together.", I say and he lets go. He's grip has strengthened since the last time I saw him.

"Sorry, I'm just really self-concious about her, since I heard you kissed her."

"On the cheek, but that was a long time ago.", he still looks suspicious. "Caston, I swear I wouldn't do anything to come in between you two, ever.", He turns back around, and I leave. I walk away and except that they are happy together, they want to remain that way, but they are in the worst place to be in love. In a fight to the death match where only one person can win. I feel depressed by the fact that not both of them could live, or I'm going to kill them.

I walk away and I pass by my own idol, Excalibar, He says hello, but I can feel so much sadness in me, I ignore him. As soon as I get to my room I start to scream my head off. I know that in this moment my anger towards the Capital. An hour later after releasing everything, I go to lunch and after I get to go get dressed for the presentation of the Tributes to the Capital. I get preped by my Prep Team, which is made up of a Andreas. A woman with purple-skin, pink teeth, and is wearing a smock covered in feathers. Harmonio, he looks like a snake with a forked tongue, and red dyed eyes, his smock is a lot more colorful, it kinda looks like the colors of a poisonous animal. Then last but not least, Calpurnia. She looks like an odd mix of the other two, she's a snake bird, with surgically implanted feathers, and redish-pink tattoos that make her look like she has scales.

They talk about upcoming social events with the rest of the other Prep teams that involves a lot of drama, or I think that's what it is. Something about someone having an affair with a married woman, and vice-versa, either way I tune them out. They are finally done and I head off to see my head designer/stylist.

Her apperance surprises me. She has surgically implanted whiskers, and other stuff to make her look like a cat, or a tiger. "Hello, I'm your head designer, Tigris.", she looks at me with her spotted eyes and says. This explains the extensive work to make her look like a "tiger". This is far beyong the Capital's beauty standard. This is what going over board in the Capital looks like.

"I'm the piece of meat you'll be designing today and for the rest of the next week, my name is Echo." I say to her as she laughs.

"You are District 7?", she asks and I nod, "Well, I have an idea of camouflage styling...what do you think?" I tell her my idea, she agrees and calls up Sestra's Stylist and they agree. I gave her my idea of anciet grecko-roman apperal, like I've read of in books about Ancient Greece. We also get to use a wreath of leaves. The plan goes that I represent the fall, with brown, orange, and a couple of green leaves. Sestra's representing spring, she'll have flowers and bright green leaves in her hair. She's going to have her hair dyed bright green and mines going to be red with yellow highlights.

While Tigris, was putting the clothes on me, I start to talk to her, "I'm sorry that I shot down your camouflague idea."

"Don't worry about it, It wasn't even my idea, why else would I ask you what you thought if I liked it. Honestly it was hideous, and I know that you Elites are also trained to know what would go together!", she laughs, and as it fades out, it turns into a purr. She finished in an hour or so, and we still have time.

"Tigris, this is better than I would've ever imagined!", I cheer. It looks like a humanly shaped tree. The drape I wear is brown, and the my hair is filled with orange autumn leaves, just for District 7, lumber. Each district has to be dressed to match what their district is leading supplier on. It shows me off more than I thought it would, it makes me look gorgeous, this is for sure to get me some sponsers.

"Oh, It's my pleasure Echo, but you can't go out there without the finishing touch.", she ties my mockingjay necklace around my neck and she blows some dirt off of it. "Now you might want to go to your platform you can socialize with the other tributes while you wait."

"Thank you again, Tigris!", I say when I hug her.

"Your welcome now let me take care of some things and I'll be in the stands watching, and remember when they announce your district untie your hair from right here.", she points it out and she sends me on my way. I feel and it's a well hidden ribbon that holds up some of the fake hair up. She says that it'll be a secret for now. When I do untie it, and if I really want to know what it is, I have to look at the screen where we will be shown. I make my way out of the room and straight into the backstage area where we will wait to be taken out and presented.

Chapter 4

I walk to my Chariot and I see that I'm the only one here except for District 2. I walk over to see that Excalibar's sitting down reading a magazine. "Oh, hey Jabberjay," he says while he puts the magazine down, "I haven't seen you in a long time, how have you been?" he stood up, and I noticed his costume. He looked like an over-exposed Peacekeeper, since he's from District 2, even though they are masonry, they're the district that supplies every district with Peacekeepers. He was just as exposed as me, and it makes me feel a little less self-concious since he seems to walk around like if he usually wears this amount of clothes.

"Oh, I've been good, and you?", I answer him.

"Wonderful, although, I think you're lying."

"What do you mean, I'm perfectly fine!", I burst out.

"I saw the despair in your eyes, and the blue feeling in your face when I passed by you. Just tell me what's wrong, Jabberjay.", he points out.

"Please! Stop calling me 'Jabberjay'!", I try to change the subject.

"Fine, Echo! Just tell me what's eating you? I'll understand if you want to keep it a secret, and if you still tell me, then I'll keep it on the down low. Just tell me.", Excalibar says, and I have to tell someone.

"Fine! I don't feel right about this Hunger Game with all the Elites. We've practiced this before, but never a real one. I need to protect my friend Sestra, so she can go home, but I also don't want to kill anyone. I know all of you guys, and your styles of fighting, and I know that I won't be able to go into this arena without having to kill one or two."

"Calm down, I won't tell anybody. Don't worry, I understand, I don't want to kill any one of you guys, either, but I have someone to go home to now. Her name is Carmenella. She's about your age. She's the best, there is no girl who can beat her." He goes on to tell of his District 2 love named Carmenella. That as soon as both their names are taken out of the reaping, he's going to marry her. I am really happy for him, I see him like an older brother, when my own isn't there, so that's why I look up to Excalibar, even though we rarely talk at all. I know that we think a lot alike, but sometimes we could be sitting next to each other, yet be a million miles apart. I hope he wins, I mean if I fail to protect Sestra and she dies, then I don't want to return home. I would probably form an allience and then when it's down to Excalibar and I, I will take myself out of the game, so he could continue on with his wedding.

More people start to arrive and I talk to District 3 tributes, Nessa and Darwin. They are some of the smartest people I know since they are from the technology district.

"Hello, Echo! How are you! It's been so long, and I would express to you my feeling of excitement to see you again, but I won't. If we were some place else, I would, but as soon as we're in the training ground we are enemies. I'm sorry, Echo!", Nessa says.

"It's okay, Nessa. As long as I know we were friends before the training.", I say and she nods. I leave them and find Sestra.

I walk over to her and she is talking to Nathine and Caitlyn, from district 6. They are both dressed like a mechanical mix of human and vehicles. The crowd starts to cheer so we are about to start. They start off with District 1-12, so we have time. "District 1!", Caesar Flickerman says. Crimson and Richest look like medieval King and Queen. "District 2!", Excalibar is trying to pump up the crowd while Persia sits down filing her nails, not caring at all. It gets the crowd to cheer more so they can get Persia's attention.

"Hey, when we're on the platform and they put the spotlight on us that's when we untie our hair.", Sestra reminds me.

"Okay.", I say, already knowing.

"My designer said that he and your designer have agreed on it."

"District 6", the announcer cheers out as well with the crowd, while District 6 is shown off. Sestra and I run onto the chariot's platform and wait to be called out, and we hold on to each other. I feel the spotlight hits us, and before Clauduis Templesmith announces us, the crowd goes wild, and then he announces us, we look out and release the tied hair and from our hair hangs glimmering extensions that reflects all the colors of our hair, and the crowd practically explodes with applause. I can see us on the monitor taking our poses and I make sure to wink and wave at people in the crowd.

I have another flashback to the day my two friends were being presented. They both looked ridiculus in big tree costumes. If they weren't in that situation they would've laughed about it, like we usually did. Every year District 7's tributes have to be dressed like trees, it's really irratating. I remember both of them hudling together, they were both scared, I can only imagine what they were thinking when they saw each other on the screen. I remember the pain of seeing them on the chariot, just like me.

I come back from my flashback and we're pulled in to the stage in front of the main building, and I watch everyone else pull in behind us. Out of everyone, I think we were the most popular. The President steps out, says his speech, the Panem anthem plays out, and we are taken back. I step off the chariot to be caught by Jareda. She looks beautiful in her mermaid costume. She was popular because of her relationship status with Caston. She told me how good I looked and that she would like to have an alliance with me when we are in the games. I told her I would think about it, but really I was going to deny her the first time I see her in the training center.

Sestra and I walk into the elevator, which is really weird for us because we never really see these back in the districts. We leave in order from 1-12. I hug everyone goodbye and that'll see them when we get the training center. When we exit the elevator Akiliya and Seran meet us at the door. They walk us to the dining room and we meet with Tigris, and Stone, Sestra's stylist, and we dine in the most biggest meal I've ever seen. Even though I'm an Elite, we don't get special treatment from anywhere, it just makes us a little bit more hated in the poorer districts in fact.

Compliments are thrown around the room, and Tigris calls attention to herself and says that the costumes were my idea, and everybody cheers. I throw back my praise saying that the hair, which was a main staple in our popularity, was the stylists idea and they should get even more praise then I. Then Stone says the hair thing was Sestra's idea, and she sits in the corner saying, "Oh stop it you!".

We all have a toast to congradulate all of ourselves, for our acting, and the stylist's styling. I enjoy the food, and for some reason this food tastes better just knowing that Sestra was going to live and go back home to her family.

If neither of us make it, I'd be fine with that. I can't return home, if Sestra died while I was protecting her. It would only give me worse flashbacks. Just being in this arena will give me the worst flashbacks ever, because I know that I'm going to have to kill someone eventually, I just hope it isn't Sestra.

Early in the morning, and I sneak out undetected from the room into the dining hall and I find that Akiliya was already sipping tea, and watching re-runs of the presentation. "Oh, Hello, Echo, where are you going without breakfast?" she asks.

I grab a plate and answer, "Nowhere, especially with this fine cuisine." I load on my plate yet have the decency to grab one napkin with a bread roll hidden inside it, for later. I gorge myself because Seran isn't around.

Akiliya asks me again. I pretend to have to much food in my mouth to answer. When she asks again I answer, "I was going up to the roof to see the sunrise."

"Echo, why do you want to see the sunrise?", she asks.

"Akiliya, you of all people should know why I want to see it.", she looks at me confused, "Since my name was called out in the reaping I've learned to appreciate smaller things, and the sunrise is something small. I've been watching it a lot lately. It reminds me that I might not see beautiful things anymore. It also reminds me of me. It's as bright as my own hope to survive these games, or to at least save Sestra and die doing it.", she looks me in the eyes and says I'm free to go.

Chapter 5

I walk into the elevator and I travel up to the top, and I see a edge where I can sit. I sit down and I notice I'm not alone. I turn to the greenhouse and I see movement from inside, I go in and ask, "Is anybody in here?", no answer, I turn around and I hear a pot fall and shatter. I turn around to see that it was Derma from District 5. Poor thing stares at me like if she was a deer standing in front of a train.

"Hi, Derma.", I say, "Come on and join me. I was about to watch the sunrise. I walk over to the ledge and sit down and I see sunrays shoot up from the horizon. I notice that Derma, without making any noise, already made her way over to my side and looked down really scared. "Derma, It's okay, if you fall you bounce right back, remember how strong the forcefields are.". It seems to calm her down. I pull out the napkin I hid and I take the bread roll from it, and hand it to her.

She takes it and eats to her hearts content, "Thank you, Echo!", she says happily.

"No problem," a comfortable silence takes over and I continue, "Isn't it beautiful, Derma, the sunset. How much it shines. It's hard to believe to another planet our sun is just a distant star?" She nods wispfully. "I continue on looking at this momentues glory and makes me think that I'm never going to see it after next week.", I say and let the sunlight get soaked into my skin.

"Echo, what do you mean that after next week you'll never see it again, don't you plan on winning?", she finally says.

I nod and say, "No, not one bit, I couldn't live in a world where I had to kill my friends, besides I'm gonna live up until Sestra is the winner, and then I can close my eyes, take in my last breath, and just slip away.", I finish and she looks at me sadly. "What's the matter, Derma?".

"I can't live in a world like this either, but I know that I have to get back to my mom, I'm practically all she has. Don't you think it's selfish for someone to sacrifice themselves for someone else. I mean you have family that wants you to get back home."

"That's right, Derma, but my family has everything they need, they won't miss me as much as Sestra's dad is gonna miss her. She's all he has too."

"But it's still wrong, we still want to see you again, we don't want you to die in the arena. We love you, and it's your responsibility to live. I'm planning to survive the three days with Nathine, you and Sestra can join us."

"Derma what are you talking about we're going into a fight to the death where only...", she looks at me and her eyes are filled with honest innocence. She really doesn't know that only one of us is going too survive. She must think this is just another free-for-all, where many people can win as long as they pass the three-day criteria. I find that I should explain to her what's really going on. "Derma, do you know how the Hunger Games work?"

"Yes, they give us three days, and everyone who makes it the end of the last day wins. That's why I made a plan, that if we..."

"Derma, that's a free-for-all, this is the Hunger Games. These two things are different. In the free-for-alls we don't get hurt, but here, we can die."

"No, I know, but my plan is for everyone to drop their weapons and be at a stand-still until the last day is done. That way we can all go home."

"Derma! That's not how it works. There isn't a time limit here, we die when we die!", I yell and her eyes get bigger. "There is only one winner out of 24. They would never allow more than one person to win. If we don't kill each other, then they will. I would rather you all fall at my hands, than to a bunch of evil Capital people who pitted us against each other in the first place."

I look at her and she's scared, and she's about to cry. She is to innocent to be thrown into an arena with all her friends. She didn't even know that only one of us can live. I close my eyes and I continue, "Derma, I'm sorry. I thought you had the right to know."

"No, you're right, Echo. I have to stop being so naive. I knew how this worked, but I was just hoping it was just a game. That as soon as we're in the Arena, Psy's(our Elite trainer) voice came on and told us that we just have to complete the three day free-for-all."

"Just a game...", I think about it. "I know a song named 'Just a Game'. Don't worry Derma, if things go wrong, then I'll make things right, and then you'll have more of a chance of winning then me. Just be thankful for all the days you have with Nathine." I open my eyes and I look to find that Derma is gone. Someone who could be that quite even when she's really close, will be a worthy adversery to me. I go back to the the 7th floor, take a shower, and I get dressed and ready for the training.

When Sestra and I get down to the training floor, the instructor tells us the rules and sends us to training. The problem is that Sestra's trying everything she hasn't been taught and she's making herself look like prey to everyone else. "Sestra, what are you doing? Keep it up and you'll be the first one to go down in the games."

"Sorry, I just wanted to see if I could do all these other things.", she whispers to me.

"Well stop it, show them that you're not completely weak, there are axes over in that station, show them what you've got.", She walks over to the station, with everyone's eyes on her she picks up an two axes. She throws it and it gets the rubber dummie, in the neck nearly severing it off the fake body. Now she has everyone's attention. She moves on to the other stations and I start to pay attention to others.

Crimson and Richest are sword fighting and both of them are really good. Excalibar is hitting moving targets left and right by throwing knives. Persia and Derma are doing the same with arrows. Nathine is piercing fake bodies with spears. Caston and Jareda are learning how to camouflague. They both play around and paint each other, laughing and giggling. I already know their strengths though. Jareda's got her mace, and Caston can use a pair of iron claws to polverise wooden targets into tooth picks.

Darwin and Nessa are sticking together with traps. Depending on the arena, Darwin can turn a normal wire, into an electrical trap. I remember he taught me how when we were in our second free-for-all. Issac is tossing 100 pound weights around like nothing. I look over to see Artimis is using poison darts and Jason is using a barrier shield. A gigantic shield that could be used to crush things and to protect yourself. Then I notice that people are still waiting for me to do something so I look on the weapons wall, for my weapon of chose, a bullwhip. It's exterior was leather, but the inside was flexible steel, strong enough to make marks in boulders. I pick it up and I walk over to a target station. I crack it once and destroy one, crack it again and make a slash mark across a tree they have for climbing, and everyone looks in awe. We all have something special, but nobody has ever seen my full potentiel with a whip.

Days go by and I figure out that Juno, Urwin, and Jenten are really good trappers. Caitlyn doesn't seem to do anything, but I've seen her throw knives before, so I know not to take her for granted. The day to work for our final scores is finally here. We perform in front of the gamemakers, and get scored from one to twelve. The higher the number the more likely you are to succeed, but it also makes you a target in the arena.

Excalibar comes out looking accomplished which worries me. It came for Sestra's turn and she told me she was going to try to impress them with the axes. When she was done she hurried to the elevator without even a glance toward me. I walk in to the main room where all the gamemakers sit and watch. "State your name, age, and continue with whatever your going to do.", the head gamemaker asks.

"Echo Ivy, 16, and I will need targets for whipping.", I say to them. He presses a button and targets pop up from out of nowhere. I pull the whip quickly from the rack. I crack the whip one way break a target and use it to destroy another one. I whip it everywhere and I can hear wood being destroyed. I felt that I was getting a good score, until I was disrupted by the gamemaker's "thank you", and a little bit of applause. I walk out, and I go back to the room and I await my score.

I pass by all the following District tributes, and I wish them good luck. I walk to the elevator, but I'm stopped by District 12's tributes, Juno and Jenten. "How'd you do in there!", Juno asks me.

"It went good. I think."

"Don't worry, you'll probably get a higher score than us.", Jenten laughs.

"Thanks you two, but I should be getting back, bye. Break a leg!", I say as I walk away from them. Once inside I press the button four on accident. I press seven right after so I don't have to make the stop at District 4's floor, but the elevator sends me there anyways. At the door for District 4, stands Jareda and her District 4 mentor, Mags. Jareda waves me in, but I deny. The elevator door doesn't close quick enough so she pulls me in.

"Echo, meet my District mentor, Mags. Mags this is Echo, from District 7."

"Hello.", I say to her, she returns the greeting and leaves. Mags looks like she's been in a lot of traumatic situations. I remember Jareda told me about her though. She was a powerful swimmer, and can make a fish hook out of anything. I 'm not sure which year she won, I think it was the 7th or the 13th annual Hunger Game.

"How'd you do?", Jareda turns to me and says.

"I'm not sure, I'm hoping I did good."

"I know I did great. You wanna know what I did?", she says. We're not supposed to know what the others did, due to the fact that that would be an unfair advantage but I already know wht her skill was. Before I can answer she tells me, "I did sword play!"

"Oh, that's new."

"I know, what did you do?"

"I used the whip like I usually do. Of course I'm going to need the whip in the arena. Hopefully, they give me a strong resiliant one."

"Well, of course, you wouldn't want to disappoint your ex-girlfriend.", she laughs. We talk a bit more, and after I decide to leave. I finally get to my floor, and release the breathe I've been holding in since I got into the elevator on the fourth floor.

Later that night, we all gathered in the Television room, and we anticipated the scores for District 7. It came on starting with Sestra's score. "Sestra Celenova...9", the announcer, Claudius Templesmith, says. I was so relieved because that meant I didn't have to kill her. Then came mine "Echo Ivy...11".

Chapter 6

I could not believe I got an eleven. I usually get an 8 or 7 when our Elite Leaders scores us in our free-for-all training. Except for Trenton from District 8, and Crimson from District 1, I was the only one who got an 11. The smallest score came from Clydessa from District 9, she got a score of 5. Persia, Excalibar, Alex(9), Kessie(10), Nathine, and Caitlyn got 10. The boy tribute from District 1, Richest, got 8. Artimis got 8 while her brother, Jason, got 9. Everyone else got a score of 6-10.

The room was filled with cheers, everyone comemerated Sestra and I for our scores. Now is where it gets a little bit more difficult. We have to find out what our strategy is, and then we have to ace our interviews with Ceaser Flickerman in front of all Panem so we can get sponsers. "We'll tomorrow is going to be really big, in winning the games, so we'll have to take night hours to talk about the strategy." Akiliya gets my attention and answers my question of when we were going to strategize before I even asked it.

"Well, can I go leave my district token in my room first?", Akiliya nods and Sestra is on her way. Her district token isn't like mine, it's something her father made her in his carpentry shop back in District 7. When she returns we continue our meeting. "Okay, so number one thing is to find a resource to sustain you for the rest of the games. We don't know what type of field they are going to give you so you have to be careful with everything. Remember don't step off your plate until the gong rings out."

"Or what?" Sestra interupts Akiliya.

"Or you'll get blown into itty bitty pieces!", she answers quickly. She continues "Water is a main thing, do either of you know how to hunt?", she asks and both our hands go up. "Well, make sure, when you run for the Cornucopia, to grab a knife, your weapon of choice, and a supplies backpack.", she says ending our meeting, and sends us off to bed. "Remember tomorrow, is where we will train you seperately for the interview, so get some sleep and be prepared for tomorrow."

I walk Sestra to her room and hug her goodnight, but it could also possibly be goodbye, because two days from now well be running in arena trying to survive. In my room I do last minute showering and prepping, so the prep team wouldn't be so troubled. I go to sleep and have a dream where Persia and I are allies again in the first free-for-all.

"You think you're going to like being a war leader?", she asks with her arrow positioned to kill a rabbit for our lunch.

"I'm not sure how I feel about it, and you? What do you think?", I ask her.

"I honestly don't love it, my whole life I hated the Capital for sending my sister into the games. She died on the first day in a fight near the cornucopia."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be, it's the Capital's fault, not yours.", she shoots the arrow and gets the rabbit clean through the eyes.

"Do you ever feel like they chose us to be Elites for a reason, Persia?", I asked her.

"I kind of do, I think almost everyone here has lost someone they loved to the games."

"That's possibly true, but I don't get why they didn't chose my brother to come. He lost five of his friends in the games. I lost my two closest friends to the most recent one though."

"Well, I'm glad they didn't chose your brother. The way you describe him he sounds like a real jerk. If they had chosen him, then I would've never met anyone as smart as you, or as ticklish as you!", she says poking my stomach and laughing. That was the day I knew I could always depend on Persia.

Akiliya wakes me up, and tells me to go with Tigris so I could get dressed and then get ettiqute training. I walk into the room and get rushed by my Prep team. They are so weak minded it's laughable. I wonder if it has ever crossed their pea-sized minds that they are just dressing me so I can get killed. I hear them talking about me being Tigris' last tribute to adorn. "You know that, you are the last person to get worked on by Tigris?" Harmonio asks me.

"No, I didn't, why, is she getting fired...or quitting?", I repeat the thought in my head.

"She's getting fired.", Andreas said.

"Why?", I say sadly. Out of everyone I've meet here in the Capital, Tigris seemed like the only logical, kind-hearted person. "Does she go overboard with costumes when she's not supposed to?"

"No, It's because she's getting...old, President Snow said that everyone has to be young and beautiful to represent how beautiful the tributes are, or something like that.", Calpurnia answers.

"How old is she?"

"She's thirty-five!", Andreas exclaims, and Calpurnia gasps. Only in the Capital can you get fired for being thirty-five.

"If we get fired at thirty-five, then I've only got two years left!", Calpurnia says, and decide to complement her.

"Really, you don't look a day over twenty-two!", I say. This makes her blush and Harmonio laughs.

"Yeah she doesn't look a day over twenty-two...thousand!", he laughs and so do I. Once they're done with the prepping I get up off the table and I thank them for everything and I say I hope to see them in the distant future. As I'm about to walk out the door, Harmonio stops me. "Here give this to Tigris,", he hands me a card, "we don't have the heart to give it to her in person...and good luck out there kid!"

"Thank you!", I say as some of them shed a tear. I hug them all to show them I don't hate them(entirely). I walk down the hall into Tigris' room. There she is with her face buried in her hands weeping.

"Tigris, I'm here." I say quietly. I put the card down on a table and we get started. She has a whole thing with my hair again, she start putting things in there. I'm dressed in a brown suit with a bright green shirt and vest. My hair is back to normal, but she said that she concealed some glimmering stuff in there so I have to shake it a little.

I'm about ready to leave, but I remember the card. I take it off the table and hand it to her. She opens it and I could see her spotted eyes go left to right, and she starts to cry again. I give her big hug and tell her that she has done well over the years, and that she has done her job well today because the District 7 tributes are going to win. She calms down and starts "Echo, you are one of the best tributes I have ever had the honor to work with. Good luck out there, Echo, and don't forget to shake your hair!"

I walk out and everyone is in their seats already, we are about to begin the interviews. Caesar Flickerman steps out and the crowd cheers. I've been in front of a crowd this big only once. When all the Elites were to protect the winner of the Hunger Games three years ago, but this time we have to talk. He goes on with a couple of jokes to warm up the crowd. Then he tells us that girls first and then boys, and in order of our districts.

Crimson goes up first, her gold dress shines in the spotlight. She has a whole competion with Caeser about whose hair is softer. Richest goes up and he's so nervous he barely talks, but he does tell everybody what he's going to be trying to get as soon as he's in the arena. A pair of iron claws is his choice. Persia goes up and the silver black dress does wonders for her. Caeser asks, "So, a pretty young girl like you must have a boyfriend, am I right?", the crowd goes balistic at this question.

She answers, "Yes, I do, he is from District 2. His name is Morson, and I'm going to win this to go home and see him!", the crowd awes for a moment, and Persia and I have locked in eyes, I can tell that she's doing this so she can get people on her side. This "Morson" probably doesn't even exist. I've known her long enough to expect this from her. Excalibar is next and he tells the story of his future fiancee, Carmenella. He gets a little bit more people on his side. District 3 interviews blow past, and then Caeser announces District 4, and this one is a suprise to me.

"Okay, now moving on to District 4, but can I have them both come up here!", Caeser says and Jareda and Caston both walk up hand in hand. "You two are an item, am I right!", he asks and they nod. "How long have you two been together?"

"11 months!", answers Caston.

"Actually, we've been together for 1 month, but we've had feelings for each other long before!", Jareda points out.

"That's adorable! Caston here includes the months you weren't even together!", Caeser cheers. The crowd is hooked. Now it's my job to get these people on to my side right after them. "Well, going into a game where only one can come out alive what is your strategy?"

"We aren't entirely sure, I know that I want her to win.", Caston says.

"And I want him to win!", Jareda says ready to cry.

"I'm gonna get the iron claws to protect Jareda from any attacker."

"And I'm going to get my mace and bury it in anyone who tries to touch him.", she says making it sound like a warning. She was never really good at threats. I laugh a little louder than I thought I would've and they turn to look at me. The rest of the tributes turn and also smile a bit.

"Well, I wish you both the best of luck...", Caesar says. "Ladies and Gentlemen the tributes of District 4, Caston Segwada and Jareda Asleen!" the crowd cheers.

Everyone goes by quick, then it's Sestra's turn. "Sestra Celenova, come on up!" Caesar yells out with joy. "Sestra, how are you doing?"

"I'm fine and you?", she answers sweetly. The green short dress she's wearing is shining in the limelight she's in right now.

"Good, good, so you volunteered when they called out your friend's name in the reaping?"

"Yes I did, I came on my own because I owe Echo one, so while I'm here I'm going to protect him.", she says with a lot of confidence in her voice. They go on a small banter and he finally comes to the final question.

"And what's your strategy going into the games?"

"I plan on getting my hands on axes, getting Echo out of the bloody Cornucopia fight, and letting the other Tributes eliminate each other in order to protect Echo."

"Well your times up, so I wish you the best of luck, and I hope you succeed, Ladies and Gentlemen, Sestra Celenova!", crowd cheers and then pause and I hear my name. "Echo Ivy, you're next!"

Chapter 7

I put on my best smile and climb up the steps. "Hello, Nature!", he says mocking me, for the costume on the first day.

"Hello Annoncer man!", I joke around, and I get the crowd to laugh. I don't really understand why, but I take it as a win.

"Oh, well that was an astonishing splash you made during the presentation last week!", they show me up on the monitor, and I have to smile.

"Yes, but I couldn't have done it without my stylist, Tigris!", She stands up in the crowd, and takes a bow while a couple of people clap. I'm not kidding at least one couple clapped. I shake my hair because I remember that's what Tigris told me to do.

"Whoa! What was that?", Caesar cheered and clapped.

"What was what?", I say like I didn't know.

"Your hair just glimmered! Shake your hair again!", he cheered me on.

_Hookline and sinker_, I thought, "Okay!", I shook my hair and the crowd went crazy with excitment, and I could hear my name being hollered out. I stood up and made sure everyone in the stands surrounding us got some, including the tributes. Once I look down I can see that different colored petals are falling out of my hair. I could hear people whistling, and shouting, and just have a heart attack of fun. I would do more but I felt dizzy.

"Wow, was that Tigris' idea?"

"Yes it was!"

"Wow, Tigris, take a a bow!", she does, and this time everyone cheers, and I see that she wipes a tear off her face. "Now on to more important matters!", he calms down the audience, "What is your strategy?"

"I can honestly say it's to stay alive, until the final two, where I will sacrifice myself to send that girl home!" I say pointing at Sestra.

"Ah, I see the both of you are allies from the beginning."

"Yes, we are, she's like my little sister, and she has so much riding up on this game."

"Like?"

"Well, personal things."

"I understand, what weapon are you going to use!"

"This might seem a little strange, but I am diving for a whip." I was correct, it did sound odd. The audience looks at each other, confused, so I decided to turn it into a joke. "Yeah, my ex-girlfriend says that I was really good when it came to the whip!" the crowd loses it and tears are streaming from every eye.

"Oh, my, well you are delightful! I hope you succeed in all your plans and may the odds be ever in your favor, now give the crowd what they want! Ladies and Gentlemen, Echo Ivy!", while he finishes his last line, I shake my hair vigorously, to release the petals all over. I step down and find that some people who worked to get people on their side have just lost them to me, hopefully no one shows me up...no one does.

The ceremony is soon over, and we are allowed to go back to our rooms, to get ready for tomorrow. I say good-bye for the last time to some people and we get to our room.

"Are you ready for tomorrow?", Sestra asks me.

"I am prepared, and you?", I question her.

"I feel ready to kill anyone who tries to hurt you, Echo."

"Sestra, I don't want you to try and protect me, these people are Elites like me, we're meant to be able to kill anyone."

"You've showed me enough and I already know what some of their weaknesses are, for example, Crimson can barely toss a spear because of her back problems."

"Sestra, we Elites are world renouned actors, we are trained for everything even tricking our opponents."

"I know you don't want me to get hurt or killed, but I owe you for when were younger. Remember when that gigantic tree almost killed me.", hearing her say these words take me back to that day.

I had just came back from the Elite choosing, and the training was done. Clair and I had came back, and I went straight to helping my dad with working on some trees. My dad's friend was helping him and he had his daughter, Sestra, there with him. She was only eleven, she wasn't working she was only messing around, and she had decided to take a rest where we cut down the trees. I heard a tree crack and I saw that the stupid idiot was still under the tree. I tossed everything aside and ran to her. She had just noticed the tree and was frozen with fear, when I pulled her off the ground and tossed myself over her and we fell a foot away from where the tree landed.

Ever since that day she has been my shadow. I taught her some things I knew. She learned how to survive, and now she wants to repay me the favor. "There is one, big difference between then and now!" I shout at her, "Back then I lived when I saved you, and in order for you to save my life I have to win and you have to lose. Losing means death!" I yell out at her. Before she could respond Akiliya and Seran came in to say their good-byes.

"I want you two to know that it has been an honor to escort you both." Seran said with a sad tone, but she's still part of the Capital, so she insults us right after, "Don't die, if you two die, then I'm demoted to another District like 12, eeww!"

"We love you too, Seran." Sestra says. Seran nods and leaves us with a smile. Akiliya says good-bye to us as well.

"You two might do your last minute prepping tonight. Remember that you two have to conceal yourselves. Pack, hunting gear, weapon, and water. I'll be watching and getting you things from your sponsers. Good luck you two!", Akiliya gives Sestra and I a hug, and before she leaves salutes me.

"Sestra will see you right after the games are done." I say because she's the one who will win. Sestra ignores me, and hugs her back and leaves to her room.

I walk off to my room, and there I take off the glimmering hair extensions. I take a shower, and pull out a tray of almonds from my draw and eat to sleep. I have another nightmare, where I suffocate Sestra and win. It's followed by the dream of when I met Excalibar. We were in the middle of our third free-for all battle. He just popped out of the water where I was fishing. The Arena was lake surrounded by forestry.

"Hey, you're not Crimson!", he acted surprise.

"Yeah, I've noticed!", I was still surprised and scared he'd knock me out.

"You're funny! I haven't seen you around the grape vine, what's your name again?"

"I'm Echo, and you're Excalibar!", I just realized who he was.

"I'm also really wet, come on in and join me!", he grabs my hand and pulls me in, and he starts to laugh.

"Ah, I don't...know...how to swim!", I shouted and kicked around. I remember hitting the bottom of the shallow water and seeing him coming down to save me. He could of knocked me out, but instead he saved me from drowning. We later formed an alliance and I ended up winning.

The next morning I wake up and see that the outfit that I'm going to wear. It was just normal clothes with special properties. The shirt was supposed to change tempurature according to the weather. The sweater was to keep in heat, well more than a usual one would. I put it down and I leave to a room where a hovercraft awaits all the tributes. I grab on to the ladder to be lifted up, but a shock freezes me and I can't move. A Peacekeeper puts a needle into me, and I ask him what it's for. He tells me that it's my tracker. I'm lifted in and I'm strapped in with everyone inside. I stay quite, because I know that if I talk it'll be harder to kill these people, my friends.

We arrive to a base and we are sent to our launch room, where we await to be sent into the arena. I go inside the room and I see that Tigris is there. She holds out her hands for a hug and I oblige her.

"Hey, you forgot something in the prep room." She holds out my mockingjay necklace.

"Thank you, Tigris!" I was relieved that she had found it for me. She puts it around my neck, and then a loud booming voice sounds, "60...59...", the countdown has just started.

"You better get on the platform quick!" Tigris says, and I follow her directions and when I get on it a glass tube surrounds me. "Good luck, Kid! Make me proud!", she says before I'm launched off. I rise to the top and I see all the other tributes.

Our platforms is in the middle of a meadow. I can see that the trees and mountains surrounds us. I see the golden cornucopia down in the middle. The meadow decents inword toward it. I look around I see that Sestra is a couple people away from me. I turn to look for Persia, and then I hear an explosion.

Chapter 8

I turn around and I see that Sestra's wooden ball, her district token, has landed a couple feet away from my platform. I look at Sestra to see if she threw it. She was gone. Then I realize that the explosion came from her platform. I hear the people next to her shriek out. I could see that something was splattered all over the floor. "NO!" I yell out. I fall to my knees on the platform. I see that the wooden ball was scorched.

"10...9...8...", the booming voice announces. I hear Persia shouting out for me to get up. I didn't know what to do. I get up and my face is filled with tears. Sestra was dead. "Let the 55th annual Hunger Games begin!" and a large ring is announced, and I start to run the decent into the Cornicopia. I make it into the inside of it where I grab a bag of axes, whip, and a pack. When I turn around I see Richest coming at me with the iron claws he wanted. I grab an axe instantly and throw it, I see him stop straightaway and he falls to the ground with in axe in his head. I run, pull the axe out of him, and run up the incline.

Halfway up I see that Clydessa is in front of me with an arrow drawn and pointed at my skull. I stop and I see a knife fly pass my head and get her in the eye. She fires it, and I drop to the ground to avoid it. The arrow bulleted passed me and gets Caitlyn, who threw the knife at her in the first place, in the eye. The phrase "an eye for an eye" has never rung so true.

I'm on the floor when Derma darted and tripped over me. We lock eyes and she hurries to get up and darts into the forest with a pack. I get up and run and a barrage of knives flies towards me, all thrown by Juno from District 12. She chases me into the forest where I hide in a bush. She stops because she knows it's better to go back to the clearing rather to take me on, the boy who scored an eleven, the boy from District 7 where they specialize in forests.

I see her turn around only to get a sword lodged in her and go through her completely. I see that it was Darwin from District 3. Behind him comes Issac, from District 5, and he breaks Darwin's neck with his enourmous hands. He kneels down near Juno's body and he picks up her head. She isn't dead, yet. She speaks, "Issac, I love you!" she coughs, with blood filling her mouth.

"I love you too, Juno!" he crys out, he could barely be heard from all the tears. I couldn't bear to see my friend like this. Juno's head turns lifelessly and her eyes lock on to where I am. There is no more life in them. Issac puts her head down, and closes her eyes. I couldn't bear it. I sneak out and walked behind him quietly, and I throw an axe. I close my eyes and I hear a loud thump. I turn around and I see that Lilia from District 8, saw the whole thing. I expect an arrow or a spear from her, but she just nods at me and she dashes into the forest.

I get the axe from Issac's head, and I speed off into the forest. I find a clearing, and a tree with a hole in the base big enough for me to slip into. I crawl in and I sit with my knees to my chest. I take in all of what just happened. I killed two of my friends, and led four others into their doom.

My sobs seem loud to me, but no one finds me so I'm fine. "Sestra...how...why?", I crying under my breath. She's dead. How could this happen, we warned her about the landmines. I'm crying more, and if I'm crying this much for Sestra, I can only imagine losing Persia. That would kill me.

Hours go by, and I see that Crimson comes into the clearing. She takes a wire out of her pack, and she climbs the tree in no time. She comes back down and I realize she just set a trap. She put a bag of apples in the middle. I see her sneak over to the side and kneel down.

I crawl out the hole, quickly and undetected. I get up and bullet for the bag and she runs straight into the clearing. I grab the bag of apples and run further into the forest. I find a dirt path, and start to run it, and she runs right behind me. I've known Crimson for a long time, and I know that she can run for miles, and she won't stop until she catches her taget, which right now, is me. I could tell she was mad because the trap didn't work on me, and I took her 5 apples. I hear a crack, a familiar one, so I slow down enough to see a tree fall in front of me. My Elite training kicked in, and I jump over it, landing with enough momentum to keep running. I've seen Crimson train, and she's one person who couldn't do a perfect jumps like Artimis, from District 11, Lilia, from District 8, and I could. She comes to a quick hault, and falls over the fallen log.

After an hour of running I slow down and decide that no one else is chasing me. I walk straight into a patch of shorter trees that are familiar to me. I also notice a certain type of moss that only grows near water. I hear 10 cannons fire. Each cannon represents each tribute that has died. It has started to get a little less brighter so I campout in a higher tree. I find a fork in the high branches and set up. I see a little opening in the leaves where I have perfect view of the sunset.

I open my pack and pull out the sleeping bag. I also find a bag of jerky, dried fruits and berries, a pair of sunglasses, bandages, rubbing alcohol, water, and matches. I get ready to go to sleep so I close my eyes. I take in everything again. All those dead faces, Crimson, my friend, angry at me and trying to kill me now. I see the Capital seal appear in the sky and I see the faces of the deceased once again. It starts in order.

_**District 1: Richest Wave**_

_**District 3: Darwin Bolt**_

_**District 3: Nessa Wire**_

_**District 5: Issac Stroid**_

_**District 6: Caitlyn Calliton**_

_**District 7: Sestra Celenova**_

_**District 9: Clydessa Dardez**_

_**District 9: Alex Zecko**_

_**District 12: Jenten Mao**_

_**District 12: Juno Badge**_

I wake up the next morning, and I crawl back down I go looking for a river, but instead I find a tiny stream. I go up the current and find a big lake. I look around to see if anyone was around. I see that across from me, my friend Kessie Firstina, from District 10 is drinking water near the lakes edge. I would call her over but I don't know if she's dangerous, or if someone is around to kill me as soon as I call her.

From behind her I see bushes rustling. I see that she notices, and she starts to run. I see four people run out of the bushes and chase her down. I couldn't help it, I have to help Kessie, she was my friend, and they were about to kill her. I see that her assailants are Caston and Jareda, Nathine, and Derma. They all have daggers in their hands and they playing with Kessie. They surround her and each take a turn cutting her. I stop running because of they see me they'll do the same. I see that Kessie tries to make another escape. This time Derma, being as quick as she is, jumps on her and takes Nathine's spear and impales her. "Stop it, NO!", I yell out on accident. Kessie's cannon fires.

Chapter 9

I see that they've spotted me, I turn to run, and I can hear them shouting out "Get him, quick!". I keep running into the forest, and soon enough they stop, and I've lost them. I find a nice big tree and I climb it. At the top, I find a fork of branches, and I sit down.

I take a sip of the water I have and I eat an apple. It starts to get dark. I doze off a little, and when I wake up I see someone in front of me. I take an axe and my hand gets stopped by someone else. _This is it, I lost the games, I'm never going to fulfill Sestra's wish of me winning._ The person behind me puts the sunglasses on me and covers my mouth. The sunglasses let me see better in the dark. I see that the person in front of me is Artimis, and the person covering my mouth is Jason.

"Quiet." Artimis whispers and points down. I see that it's Caston and his alliance are walking under us. They are talking about Kessie. "Oh please don't kill me!" Nathine mocks Kessie's begging.

"Please, I could help you find Echo quicker! Just don't kill me!" Derma follows, "She was so pathetic!" she laughs right after. I feel the immense pressure of throwing an axe in her head, but Jason sensed this and he gripped my hand harder.

They soon pass and Jason releases me. "Artimis, Jason, what are you guys doing?" I whisper.

"Well we were walking when we saw their torch so we climbed up the tree and found you here." Artimis says.

"You were about to kill Artimis, so I had to stop you, and sorry about covering your mouth, I just didn't want you to blow our cover." Jason says.

"Oh that's understandable, but I thought you guys were going to kill me, that's why I raised the axe." I explain.

"It's okay we get it." Artimis says. "Sorry about Sestra."

"Yeah, if my sister was stupid enough to blow herself up I would go crazy to." Jason laughs, strangely, I don't find this funny.

"Jason!" Artimis hushes him, "I told you already she didn't blow herself up!"

"What do you mean she didn't blow herself up?" I said.

"I saw the whole thing, Jareda told her to drop the ball, because it would've held her back from running, so she did and the rest is history." she reveals to me that Sestra's death wasn't an accident. All my feelings for Jareda were gone as soon as she finished telling me this. I wanted to get her in the head with an axe.

"I'm going to chop her head off."

"Whoa, take a chill pill, it's to late we gotta get some sleep." Jason grabs my shoulder. The anthem plays and the Capital seal appears in the sky. One face appears tonight.

_**District 10: Kessie Firstina**_

The anthem plays out and the seal disappears. Jason and Artimis take a seperate fork then me and they fall asleep. I go to sleep right after them and I have a dream about Kessie. When it came to the training sessions in the Capital, we were always a team. She was the first person to even talk to me when we first arrived at the Capital. She was my first friend here. She might've planned to sell me out but I know she was scared, and she had to do anything to live. They way it sounds, they were looking for me.

I wake up early and I pack up and slowly crawl down the tree. I find Artimis on a branch near mine, and Jason is on another branch in another tree. I crawl up to Artimis and I leave an axe. I start to walk towards the big mountains that are really far away. I take a path that is covered in trees, there is no way someone can find me through here. Although I could be wrong. I constantly hear twigs snapping, but I think that It could just be the gamemakers trying to scare me. I walk for hours and I can see that some of the trees start to thin down. Trees start to turn into saplings and it soon turns into plain dirt on the floor. I hear something whizzing around in the air, and I can feel fear building up in me.

I start to slow down and I come to a stop so I can rest. I scan the area I'm in but I highly doubt that anyone will find me here, even though it's a clear wide plain. I drink some of the water I've collected. I eat another apple and ly down, I close my eyes for a second, and I hear something bullet through the air, and land right next to me. I open my eyes sit up and I examine a sharp disc that is sticking out of the ground. The bulleting noise is back and I jump out of the way. Another disc lands right under me. I look up and see many more flying towards me. I grab my things and start to run back towards the forest. A disc hits the floor in front of me, and breaks through a rock. I come to a screeching halt and run in another direction. I'm running and I can see the tree line coming up. Something cuts my side, and I see that a disc lands in front of me covered in blood. My blood. I start to push myself further and I am running in a zig-zagging lines.

Another one cuts my ear, and soon one lands straight in my calf. I stop and it starts to burn as if it were on fire. I look at it and it's turning red hot. I fall on the floor yeling in pain. I see another one flying towards my head, I roll over and it lands near my head. This disc is different, once it hit the floor, it doesn't stop spinning. It was digging into the ground. The disc finally starts to burn so much I grab and yank it out as quick as I can. I yell and I get up and run into the forest which is only a couple feet away. When I get to the first tree a disc cuts right through a tree, and it falls almost hitting me on its way down. My leg still burns but I jump over the tree and run further into the forest. I soon stop hearing the discs after they've cut down about ten trees.

I'm exhausted and just let myself fall straight onto the floor. I can feel my calf still burning, and the powerful pain is pulsing in my ears. I reach in my pack and I grab the anti-bacterial cream and some bandages. I bite down on my whip and I rub on the cream. It burns and I want to scream, but I bite down on the whip harder, knowing that I might be within earshot of one of the other tribute. I wrap my leg in the bandages, and make sure it stops bleeding.

Chapter 10

The burning pain turns into a cooling sensation. The pounding pain in my ears starts to go away, an I allow myself to go to sleep on the floor, hopefully no one passes by. I'm dead wrong. I hear speaking coming from the other side of some shrubs. I get up and try to run but my leg is still weak. I lean on a tree and start to climb as fast as I can. "Come on I heard it from over hear!", I hear a familiar voice. It's Nathine, and if he's here then the rest of their group shouldn't be to far away. I hurry up the tree, and try to conceal myself in one of the branches.

"What did you hear exactly!", Jareda asks him.

"It was a really loud thump, I mean huge, sort of like an earthquake!", he shouts and pushes his way through the bushes. "Whoa!", he exclaims as he sees the fallen trees.

"What in the world!", Derma shouts out kind of laughing. Their faces are filled with shock. "What did the gamemakers do this for!".

"Probably for that!", Caston yells out pointing at the tree I'm in. "Come on out I already saw you, Echo!". _How did he see me?_

"Hi, you guys!", I sit up on the branch. "What are you guys doing over here?", I shout down from the branch.

"Nothing just trying to get rid of as many competetors as we can!", Nathine says. "I thought you'd be a little bit more difficult to find but you've proven me wrong once again!".

"When was the first time Nathine!", I ask with a smile.

"That day in the third free-for-all! When you trapped us all in the electrified lake, by setting the trees around us on fire! Then I thought you would get a score lower than ours, but no, you out did yourself and got an 11! That makes me really proud to know you!", he says grabbing Derma's bow and arrows. I prepare my axes for a fling when a parachute comes sailing into the tree with me. They all notice, and Nathine is ready to shoot, and I jump to the branch above me where it landed. The arrow flies and hits the trunk. I look down and see that Jareda is jumping on to the tree and starting to climb. I open the package and see that it's a cross bow. I tie it to my wrist, and load it with one of it's many arrows. I point it down and the group sees it, but Jareda is still to busy climbing to see it. The yell out,"Jareda , come back down! Quick!", I look for her in the branches below me and I start to aim. I finally have a lock on her, and then an arrow scratches my cheeck. I look down and I see Derma is getiing ready to launch another one. I jump to the next tree and she misses.

I keep skipping into different trees, and I try to escape, but they follow me. I land on a flimsy branch and I fall down to the forest floor. I tumble and I start ot run again. More arrows are flying and I turn around to fire one of my own, and it gets Nathine in the shoulder. This stops Derma from chasing but Jareda and Caston continue on. I shoot back and get Caston in the shin, but it doesn't stop him. I run and I hear an awful high pitched tweeting from above me. There was a nest of bright colored birds, I'm guessing these were Capital Muttations. They were candy pink, with beaks that looked really sharp. I run ahead of it and when I see that Caston and Jareda were almost underneath the nest of the swarming candy birds I shoot an arrow into it and it falls to the ground in front of them. The birds swarm the two of them, and they start to get stabbed by the birds, I only watch for a minute and leave before the birds notice me.

I run away and come to a stop when I hear the Capital seal appears and the anthem plays, but there is no one dead tonight. I'm tired of running, and before I climb the tree to go to sleep, I clean the wound that the arrow made on my face. The next morning, I wake up and a sudden thought hits me. I whisper to myself, "The ball!". Sestra's ball is all I have left of her, I have to go back and get it. The last time I saw it was when I was running away from Juno.

I need to go back and find the ball, not only do I want it, but I need it so I don't ever forget what I'm fighting for. I start to crawl down the tree, but I tumble down and land on the crossbow, now it's broken, but I ignore it and start to walk opposite of the mountains I was following the other day. After hours of walking I stop because I hear noises. I feel like the discs are going to start flying but I jump down when I hear a lone mockingjay sing. I start to walk again and I finally reach a forest clearing. I hear a noise undeniably made by a person behind me. I crack my whip and I grab something. "Echo. It's me, Jareda, don't kill me please!", she says. I examine her for a minute and see that she is covered in puncture wounds. Not too bad, but still scars are scars.

"Jareda! Give me a reason why I shouldn't kill you?" I shout.

"Because I'm your friend?"

"You told Sestra to drop the ball and she killed herself!", I say remembering what Artimis told me two days ago.

"What? Who told you that!"

"Artimis told me everything!" I shout out.

"Artimis! That liar, she's using you, she told me Excalibar told her a secret about you, and that she was going to use it aganist you!" Excaliber? That bastard. I take spme time and think about it. Would Excalibar betray my trust so he could win these games? What am I saying? Of course he would, anyone would. She must be telling the truth, how else would she know about it.

It gives me some time to form the words in my mouth, "Okay, I believe you!" I say but I really don't. "Jareda, what are you doing sneaking up on me like that? You know I'm really paranoid enough to kill you!" I whisper to her.

"I'm sorry, I can barely think straight.", she said looking down as sad as I've ever seen her.

"What happened to you?", I noticed there's an iron claw mark going across her chest that looked fresh, only one person can use an iron claw, besides Richest, who I had happened to kill. "Where is Caston!", I ask knowing that he just attacked his own girlfriend.

"He abandoned me, and he attacked me as soon as we came up in a forest clearing. I was barely able to get away I'm just lucky Lilia came and helped me.", she said as a cannon fired. "Lilia.", she whispers to herself and cryed a little.

"When did you leave her and where?", I asked her quietly, so if Caston was near he wouldn't hear us.

"About a minute or two ago, and in that direction.", she says and more cracking coming from the direction she pointed. I pull her near a tree that could provide us cover.

"Jareda, where are you?", Caston yells out.

"Did you see which way she went?", one voice asks. I look up and take a peek to who it is. It's Urwin from District 10.

"She went this way!"

"Dude, What happened!", Urwin asked him, while he kneeled down to exam the ground.

"I don't know why she did it. She came up on me on slashed me with a dagger!", Caston answers and I see the monster lift up his hand with the iron claw on it. Jareda is at my level watching too, I here a grunt and I push her head behind the tree, so she wouldn't see. I here a loud thump, and I look back to see that Urwin is on the ground with his back split open. Caston is running out of the clearing. Excalibar comes out of nowhere and chases after him. I run out from behind the tree to take care of Urwin. I push him over so he can see me.

"Echo, Hey kiddo...", Urwin says coughing.

"Urwin, don't waste your breath, you need to rest!", I say. I hear rustling from the bush. I position my axe ready to attack.

"Whoa! Echo slow down it's just me Excalibar!", he bursts out. "Urwin, are you okay!", he rushes over to Urwin's side and grabs his hand.

"Yeah, Excalibar, I'll be fine, I just need some rest, and some bandages.", Urwin says.

"I have some bandages in my pack!", I say.

"Don't waste them, we have more at the camp!", Excalibar jumps in. _Wait a minute did he just say camp_, I thought to myself. We carried Urwin to there camp, and there Persia and Crimson carried him to his sleeping bag and treated him. After an hour they told us he wouldn't make it. Excalibar goes to talk to him first.

"Crimson, Persia, what's all this?", I ask.

"Nothing that concerns you, Echo and especially not you Jareda!", Crimson pushes me, and stares daggers at Jareda.

"What's your problem?" Jareda says coming to my aid, and Persia holds Crimson back.

"My problem is with him, he took the apples I set as a trap to get us food, and to make things worse he almost killed me with his tree trick!", she yells at me. "If anyone is going to kill him, it's going to be me."

"Crimson, I'm sorry, but I haven't even eaten the apples, here they are!", I toss them to her.

"The apples aren't important it's what you tried to do to me!", she comes in close and starts to yell.

"Crimson, I didn't do anything to that tree. Unless it was someone else, it was just the gamemakers who are trying to spice up these games.", a cannon rings out, we all turn to look at Excalibar who looks at us grimly. Urwin was dead

Chapter 11

That night Excalibar and I stayed up to keep watch. It was quiet as the crickets sing.

"This reminds me of the day we meet, do you remember that day, Excalibar?", I ask to keep the silence from consuming us completely.

"Yeah, I remember. I remember even before we met. Urwin got in a training match with you. You literally whipped him. I remember he told me that he wanted you to be part of our alliance as soon as we met up here.", Excalibar tells me still stricken by his best friend's death. He tells me that he was glad that he was the last person his best friend got to see before he passed.

"Hey, Excalibar, did you tell Artimis about my thing over killing my friends?", I ask.

"No I didn't who told you that? I would never, Echo.", he says.

"Jareda said that Artimis told her that you told her."

"That lying! I didn't. I swear."

"But how else would she..."

The anthem plays and the Capital seal appears in the sky, which distracts us from the conversation. It shows Lilia and Urwin in the sky.

_**District 8: Lilia Harvord**_

_**District 10: Urwin Carnivous**_

Excalibar gets up and presses the three middle fingers of his left hand against his lips and points them towards the sky. I know that this is a tradition in District 12, Juno told me so. I get up and join him. He looks down at me and I could see that he's crying.

Two days pass by and no one has died besides Urwin and Lilia. I've stayed in the camp with Excalibar, Persia, Crimson, and Jareda. Things in the games get easier, because we all support each other with our abilities. I got Crimson to forgive me even though I didn't really try to kill her. We have been able to sustain ourselves and we are still plotting to find other people so we could finish these games faster.

"Help me, please...", a voice says from the bushes near the river we camp by. Since it's night time, only Persia and I are awake keeping watch. We slowly creep over, ready to attack just in case the helpless voice is just a trick. It wasn't. It's Artimis from District 11, without her brother.

"Artimis, what happened to you?", Persia asks as she walks over to help her up. There are arrows all over Artimis' back.

"Where's Jason?", I ask her.

"He stayed with Nathine, Derma, and Caston!", she says crying, relieved that we had found her.

"Do you mean he actually joined up with them?", I ask.

"Yes, I didn't want to be part of it, so I went out to find you, Echo, and halfway in my search Derma attacked me.", she staggered to say, as we lay her down on her stomach to treat the wounds on her back. I take the anti-bacterial cream I still have left and use it on her, and some of the bandage wraps. She seems better in a matter of minutes, and she goes straight to sleep.

Persia and I keep watch, and I stay calm by listening to the songs the crickets whistle out. Then the eerie song stops. It goes quite, deadly quite. I wake up Persia who had dozed off, and we wake up everyone else. Everyone is surprised to see that Artimis was here. She stood up by herself and explained it all. She seemed a lot better than when we found her. A cannon fires, we could only guess who that was, my guess was that it was Jason. We could only wait for tonight to come and show us who died.

I remember why I woke everyone up, the quite. I told them but they said I was just being paranoid. They packed stuff into their bags anyways and they went back to sleep. I stayed up, still scared by the quite of the dawn. "Help me please...", I hear a voice come from the river. "Help me please...", I hear it again, I check it out knowing this wasn't a person. It was a Noise Cracker. A Noise Cracker was a mutation made by the Capital, in times of the rebellion, which led to the existence of these games I'm in right know. A Noise Cracker is half piranha, it has the teeth and the same features as one, and half frog, it has legs that let it jump high and a croak that can copy any noise it wants. When it's in danger it lets out a screech to warn others and when they are together, they attack. They secrete toxins that cause a person to go crazy. They can survive out of water which makes them more dangerous than they already are.

This Noise Cracker wasn't alone. I could see lights reflect off the water, but it's not the water its being reflected off of. It's the eyes of more Noise Crackers. The first one notices me and releases a glass shattering screech. They all start to swim to the river banks. I run to wake everyone and I tell them about the Noise Crackers that are coming. They all get their weapons and start to run. By now the frogs are on land getting closer to us. We are packed and start to run. They start chasing us at full speed. We are all running away from the water. Then I hear Persia shout "Crimson!". I look back and see that Crimson is swatting at the Noise Crackers as they swarm her on the ground. "Get off me, Help! Help!", I had never heard Crimson scream like this. "Get them off!". A silver parachute lands near me. I open it quickly and see there's a whislte. I run back to Crimson and blow on it. The Noise Crackers seem to be startled at every blow and they begin to retreat back to the river we ran away from.

Everyone comes back, and Crimson is on the floor, convulsing, and foaming at the mouth. She's twitching and she's humming out words. She's been bitten to many times to save. We all watch, which is all we can do. She gives one last strong twitch, and her head falls to the side, lifeless. Persia closes Crimson's eyes, and we walk back to the camp to see if we can scavenge anything. Crimson's cannon is shot, and we know she's in a better place now. I see the hovercraft fly by us and it takes her body.

I stop and whisper, "Bye, Crimson. I'll miss you.", I do the same thing Excalibar did for Lilia and Urwin. I turn back and continue along with them. We get back to the camp and find that not a lot is harmed just the food, and thanks to me, we still have some packed up in our packs. We decide to rest for a while somewhere else. We find a low patch of trees, like the ones I had found a day or two ago. I show them all the trick I used to sleep in the tree, and we all find seperate trees, and we go to sleep. I wake up in the afternoon, and I find that everyone, except for Jareda, is huddled down beneath the trees. I join them and ask ,"Where's Jareda?"

"That little traitor, took her pack filled with food and a mace, and ditched us." Excalibar spoke angrily. "Apparently she's been on Caston's side the whole time."

"What about the scar that Caston left across her chest?", I ask.

"I saw the whole thing, they planned it! I told you not to trust her!", Artimis says. "My brain got joggled up, and when I fell out of a tree, but it came back to me. That's why the sent Derma to try and kill me as soon as I tried to quit their alliance."

"No wonder I was suspicious of Jareda, she always was the worst when they tried to teach us how to act.", I state knowing that Jareda was up to something from the beginning. "Now what do we do?"

"We are going to find them and kill them! Then it's down to us four." Persia says, and everyone avoids eye contact with each other.

"We can't hurt Jason though, he's my brother, and they of forced him to join. They told me they'd spare me if he joined up with them...", she thinks for a second or two and continues, "If we are going to go after them, I think we should split up, groups of two.", Artimis says.

"That's an idea, we can cover more ground and get them faster.", Excalibar points out.

"I'll go with Persia and you guys can go together. Here's your weapon, Artimis." I say and hand her all my axes, instead of the just one, like I gave her when I seperated from her and Jason. I know that I'm gonna regret giving her the axes later on, but as long as she knows I trust her is good enough for me to continue these games guilt free.

Persia grabs two sheaths of arrows, her pack, and her bow. I grab my whip, Crimson's sword, and my pack. Excalibar gets the spears and pack filled with what we divided for each other, and Artimis does the same with her axes. We say our good-byes and continue on.

Persia and I find ourselves climbing up a mountain later on that night. "I don't think I can continue on for today. We have to find a place to sleep.", she says exhausted.

"Okay, you stay here I'll look for a tree where we could stay.", I look around.

"Or we could stay in that cave over there.", she laughs out.

"Okay then, get up I'll carry you there.", I laugh along with her. We get to the mouth of the small cave entrance. The doorway is small but the inside is big enough for the both of us. I set up with a flashlight as my only resource of light. I help Persia put her things down for her to go to sleep and I would keep watch. I crawl outside while she sleeps, and the sky brightens up with the Capital seal. The faces of the deceased:

_**District 1: Crimson War**_

_**District 11: Jason Zing**_

The anthem plays and the it goes off. After seeing that Jason was dead, I feel bad for Artimis. She must be crying herself to sleep right now. Poor thing, I hope she gets to go home to see her family. I don't care if I win anymore, this is horrible, I was supposed to save Sestra. _She dropped the ball on any chances of her survival, literally, _I thought to myself. I see a silver parachute coming towards me. I open the can and find that it's hot soup and a note from Akiliya. A second one comes and floats into the cave, I'm guessing that it was for Persia.

I read the note which said, "Dear Echo, Sorry about your loses, I tried to get the whistle to you quicker but no one would pay quick enough. Either way here's some soup to keep you going for the next day or two, ration it safely, so it doesn't go to waste in one day. Love, Akiliya", the note made me cry. I wasn't hungry, but it reminded me of what I'm fighting for again. I'm fighting for my friends that died, and I'm fighting to go home to District 7. Everything seemed to be clear, so I crawled back into the cave and saw that Persia was sweating a lot, and she seemed to be breathing heavily. She has a fever! She must have been bitten by a Noise Cracker when she was trying to help Crimson, and got at least a little bit of the poison in her system.

Now I know what her gift was, medicine. I woke her up as quickly as possible, "Persia, Persia, wake up, take this quick!", I shout at her until she opens her mouth and I pour it in. Her skin, which was red because she was hot, calmed down to pink, and then back to normal. She was all better.

"Thank you, Echo, if you hadn't woke me up, I would've probably died in my sleep of that fever.", she says and I hug her because I couldn't think about losing her already. She stays up while I go to sleep.

"Oh, Persia there is soup in that canister, feel free to eat some." I say before I lay down and sleep for hours. I wake up to find that Persia is sleeping as well. She looks like she's been sleeping for as long as I have. She looks so peaceful. I wake her up with the least alarming voice I have, then I hear a cannon fire from outside. This wakes Persia up instantly.

We walk out of the cave and I could see down the mountain and I see Artimis being chased by something. I immediately know who the cannon belonged to. Excalibar.

Chapter 12

I see Artimis running screaming, and Persia and I jump into action leaving everything, knowing we'll come back for it. We run down to the side and Artimis falls and crawls backwards away from what is chasing her. We jump in front of her and I see that it's another Capital Mutation. This one I've never seen before. It's a bear with a very thin coat of fur, it had a dog face with sharp teeth and tusks, and it's body was covered in armor. It was snarling with blood in it's mouth.

I know Persia's arrows wouldn't pierce it and neather would Crimson's sword. I notice that there's an axe in it's back, so I can tell that Artimis tried to fight it off. I pull out the whip and I crack it at the mutt. I do this repeatedly until it get's scared enough to leave.

I dash to Artimis' side. She was breathing heavily, still exhausted from running. "Artimis, what happened? Where's Excalibar?", I yelled at her to get a hold of her attention.

"I don't know he ran the other way. That thing killed Nathine. It was horrible, it's teeth ripped him apart...", she answered hyperventilating.

"Get a hold of yourself!", Persia shouts slapping her twice across the face. I couldn't help but laugh a little.

"Okay, I'm fine!", she screams out. We start to walk away and I hear footsteps from behind us. I turn around and crack the whip getting Derma across the cheek but she shoots an arrow that hits Artimis in the chest. Derma holds her cheek and runs off. Artimis falls to her knees, and has a painfully surprised look on her face. The arrow went straight through her, and lodged itself in her chest.

"Echo...Persia, make sure you kill that...", Artimis says with her last breath. She falls backwards onto her back with her knees still folded. I took this as permission to leave, and I run seeing Derma in my sights, she looks back and starts to scream. I feel the rush of anger run down my face. I crack the whip and it rips the back of her shirt, and she cries out in pain. I try again but this time I trip and she gets away. Persia catches up to me, and she helps me up.

"Persia, we can't let them get away with doing stuff like that!", I say cringing from the fall. The cannon shoots out, and I know that Artimis is dead for sure.

"We won't, we'll kill them before they can get to any other one of us. Now come on, we got a useless mutt running around, that we have to kill.", Persia answers giving the most evil smile I'd ever seen from her.

We continue on looking for either Excalibar or Caston, Jareda, and Derma. While we walked, Persia and I reminiced about old times.

"Remember, the first free-for-all where we teamed up and you took out 4 people when we were surrounded.", I told her.

"You've done better in trainings. You were smart enough to get everyone in the electrified water, by setting the forest surronding us on fire, remember that was the third free-for-all!", we laughed, because besides my whipping people left and right, that was my crowning achievement. We slowed down to a meadow, not the one with the cornucopia, but a meadow with beautiful flowers and butterflies. I wasn't sure, but I think I can hear mockingjays singing too.

"This place is beautiful!" I say sounding the happiest I've had the whole time I've been in the arena. I hear another footstep uneven with ours, and like the first time, I threw the whip and I got something by the neck. I was hoping it was Jareda. I pulled whatever it was through the bushes it was hiding in, and my wish came true. It was Jareda.

I pulled her towards me and got her in a head lock. Persia readies her arrow, and points it at Jareda's heart. Jareda was able to choke out a couple words, "What are you doing I'm on your side!"

"Stop lying, Jareda, Artimis told us everything, that's why you ran away, right? You saw Artimis and knew she was going to tell us about your plan with Caston and Derma!", Persia says.

"One question before we kill you, Jareda.", I say

"What would that be?", Jareda answers.

"How did you know that I told Excalibar that secret?"

"I just happened to come in at the right moment, and I heard it all. I decided to use myself to kill you. Hey, Echo, guess what!", Jareda asks.

"What?", I answered.

"I told...Sestra to...drop her ball, and...I tripped Crimson!", she said laughing. I get furious and start to squeeze her neck harder. "Caston now!", she yells out, before I break her neck. Caston pops out of the tall grass and throws a spear at Persia, who at the same time fired an arrow into his cheek.

"Ah...", I hear Persia spit out as she falls to ground. Caston yells out louder and runs off. Jareda's cannon fired and I run to Persia's side.

"Persia, No!" I felt like crying but I know that I shouldn't in front of her.

"Echo, don't leave me here alone, please.", she breathes out.

"No, I'm not going anywhere!", I tell her.

"I'm not going to make it, Echo.", she says.

"No, you're going to make it, you're going to win this game. Be strong Persia! Please!"

"Sit me up against the tree, please", I do as she says, and I ask her why. "The sun is going down, and I wanted to see my last sunset." The hovercraft comes into view and picks up Jareda's body.

"It's not your last sunset! You're a fighter! Fight it, Persia, please! Fight!"

"Echo, I'm not stupid. I'm going down right now, just like the sun. Here take my pin. It's yours now.", she hands me her District token, a mockingjay pin, like my necklace. "Hey, Echo...Stop it. Smile. Come on smile, I want to see that thirteen year old I met in the arena, that one day.", she tells me and I try to smile, but I sort of get a mix of a laughing frown. "Come on before I go, I want to see a smile. Remember what we used to do when you were sad."

"Yes, I do.", I say and nod. I try to give her the smile she asked for, but it's still to hard.

"Yeah, you remember. I use to tickle you!", she pokes my stomach and she's laughing. I try to hold back my laughter but it gets out. "Can you sing to me...my favorite song. Remember the first one you sang when we met...the Hanging tree." I couldn't hold my tears in anymore, I was smiling but I was also crying. "Come on...cheer up. I'm going somewhere better than this place.", she wipes tears off my face. "Sing, Echo. You always were the best..."

I begin the song and I watch her slowly fade away. I shake her as I sing the song to keep her awake.

_"Are you, are you_

_Coming to the tree_

_Where they strung up a man they say murdered three._

_Strange things did happen here_

_No stranger would it be_

_If we met up at midnight in the hanging tree._

_Are you, are you_

_Coming to the tree_

_Where the dead man called out for his love to flee._

_Strange things did happen here_

_No stranger would it be_

_If we met up at midnight in the hanging tree._

_Are you, are you_

_Coming to the tree_

_Where I told you to run so we'd both be free._

_Strange things did happen here_

_No stranger would it be_

_If we met up at midnight in the hanging tree._

_Are you, are you_

_Coming to the tree_

_Wear a necklace of rope, side by side with me._

_Strange things did happen here_

_No stranger would it be_

_If we met up at midnight in the hanging tree."  
_

When I look up at her I see that her eyes are closed and she has a peaceful smile on her face. I try to wake her up. I slap her, but she doesn't wake up. No matter what I do she doesn't wake up and her smile never clears off her face. I'm on my knees yelling in pain at the top of my lungs. "Persia! Don't Go! Pleeeaase, Persia, please!" She doesn't move at all. While I'm breaking down next to her body, I realize that she is in a better place. Why else would she be smiling? I ly her body down so the falling sunlight can reach her. I wipe my tears and I kiss her forehead as a send-off. I take her bow and arrows and some supplies from her pack. I go and retrieve my whip, which is broken and useless to me. Persia's cannon fires, and the mockingjays flutter around and warn of the upcoming hovercraft. There is something odd about this hovercraft, it just zooms into view faster than the rest do, it quickly takes Persia, and as fast as it came into view, it leaves. As soon as it leaves there is silence for a minute and then the mockingjays continue singing. Only this time they are singing my song. I walk away and I don't look back, I don't want to see her being taken away completely.

I think about the song I had just sung to her. I meant a lot to me. My mother showed it to me, she said that her grandma showed it to her. I sung that song when I first met Persia in our first free-for-all beach arena. I find a tree to go to sleep in for the night, and I set up to wait for the anthem to play. The Capital seal appears and my dead friends faces appear:

_**District 2: Persia Ross**_

_**District 4: Jareda Asleen**_

_**District 6: Nathine Gallaghr**_

_**District 11: Artimis Zing**_

Chapter 13

I wake up the next morning. I get down from my perch and pack up. I put Persia's pin on my shirt and start to make my way. I don't know where I'm going, but all I know is that I'm out to kill. I walk about a mile when a silver parachute lands my way. I open the canister and I find a brand new metallic whip, gloves, and a note. The note said, "Dear Echo, Please except this whip as a gift of my gratitude for taking care of Persia. This new longer bullwhip should be able to assist you. Hold the handle strongly and see what happens, if you need something to keep the handle from hurting your palm I included the gloves for holding it. From your new Friend, Morson of District 2."

Morson...of District 2, that's Persia's Boyfriend...he is real! I do what the note said, and grip the handle tightly and thorns pop out of the whip. _Amazing_, I thought to myself. I try it out and aim for a boulder. I crack the whip and reduce the boulder to rubble. I use the gloves to retract the whip, which is why I notice there is sharp stone at the end of it, I feel it and I know it's a diamond. "Thank you, Morson! I hope you know that your girlfriend, my best friend, was the best person in all of Panem...", I shout out and I know that the cameras are on me now.

I continue on, and I come to a river and see that some of the rocks are blood stained. I follow them, and they lead me to an empty camp. I see sleeping bags, food, and Derma with her hair tied in a pony tail, practicing fighting on a tree. I hide my whip and put down my stuff down and say, "Hey, Derma.", she turns around surprised.

"Oh, Hi, Echo. I didn't think you'd ever find me.", she says wrapping bandages around her hands and making fists.

"And pass up the oppurtunity of killing you myself, never!" I say getting ready for a hand to hand fight.

"That's funny, you think you're going to kill me...just like Caston did to Persia, and I did to Artimis and Kessie?", she laughs. This makes me mad and I move in close and spit on her! "Oh, a fiesty one, huh!", she releases a whip from beind her showing me that she has my old one.

"How did you..."

"I've been watching you in training, I learned how to fix a broken one and how to make one.". We start to circle with eyes locked on each other.

"Derma, you always were a little girl. Now, put the whip down, you have no idea what you're doing."

"Why should I, so you could get it?"

"Derma, I don't need a whip, badly fixed like that, to kill you... just like I did to Nathine and Jareda." I know I didn't actually kill Nathine, but Derma was in love with him, and just like she mocked me by pointing out Persia's death, I pointed out Nathine's death. This made her angry and she charged. She started throwing punches and I threw them right back. She kicked my side, and I tripped her and made her eat dirt. She threw a spear head into my temple. I pushed her head against a tree. She punched me in the mouth, and I pulled her hair backwards.

This went on for 2-3 minutes until she got far away enough to try and whip me. She cracked it once, but since I'm more experienced I grab the whip and snap it right back at her. She loses control of it and the handle whips her in the eye. "Ah! My eye!" she screams holding her face, "You better pray you win this fight, or I'm gonna torture the hell out of you.", she sighs and picks up the whip, but before she does I pull out mine and show it off. Her jaw drops, and her eyes get big. She drops the whip and tries to run.

"Not this time!" I crack the whip and make sure it wraps around her. I pull her in and she begins to beg.

"Please, don't kill me. I have so much to live for!", she starts to beg.

"Ah, what's the matter Derma? I'm guessing that you didn't pray to win this fight, because now I'm gonna torture the hell out of you!", all this killing and dying has gone straight to my head, because right now I don't feel the guilt I would've had from the beginning of the games. I slowly start to squeeze the handle, and she starts to release sharp squeals of pain. She looks up toward the sky and lets out one last shriek, and she passes out of the pain.

I release her of the whip and using the diamond on the point of the whip to write a message in the dirt for Caston or Excalibar to find next to Derma. I write down "Meet me at the cornucopia, Love Echo!". She starts to come to, and I finish her with a powerful crack of the whip, which wraps around her neck. I release the thorns from the whip, and pull it tightly so she runs out of air, and at that moment her cannon fires. I walk up to her body and look at the girl who killed some of my friends, I spit on her and say, "Pathetic...".

I walk away and realize that I just killed an innocent girl. The girl that I talked to that day on the roof. The girl whose mother is all she has. I remember in the 4th free-for-all, I found Derma hiding in bushes, shaking. She was alone. For some, reason nobody liked her. I decided to help her. We made it to the final five before the other three, besides us, Jenten, Darwin, and Crimson, went on to knocking us out. I just finished off the shy, hated girl hiding in the bushes. I remember the look in her big brown eyes when I found her. She had arrows in her hand but she didn't know how to use them. After we had been knocked out, I taught her how to use them, and in exchange she taught me some stuff from District 5. Now the little twelve year old from three years ago, was dead.

I get my things and start on my way back to the cornucopia. Stupid Caston must of thought that leaving Derma to protect their supplies was enough. Obviously not. I take his iron claws, just in case of we get into close combat. I throw all there food in the river and take some myself.

I end up going up the mountain where Persia and I stayed the last night she was alive, and I see that the hovercraft has just taken Derma's body. I starts to rain and I think it would be better to wait in the cave for the rain to stop. I sneak into the cave. I realize we left Persia's silver parachute, and there is a note attached to it, I didn't even notice it. I pick it up and read it. "Dear Persia, This is a remedy for a fever which you obviously have. It is straight from the District 2 hospital that we run. Think of us when your cured, and we'll be waiting at home. Love, Mom and Dad", it was heart felt and I'm glad that Persia had something from home before she passed. I fall asleep in no time and before you know it I'm awaken by the anthem playing in the rainy sky. I slept through the whole day. I see the one face and it's of the person I was happy to release from these games.

_**District 5: Derma Majester**_

Something different happened tonight after the anthem played again. Claudius Templesmith's, the announcer, voice came on and announced, "Now, That there is only four of you left, we will be serving a very special dinner at the Cornucopia tomorrow, and all four of you are invited. Have a nice day, and may the odds be ever in your favor!", and as quickly as his voice came in, it's out.

Four of us? I only remember that it's Excalibar, Caston, and...oh. I remember now. Trenton from District 8. I saw him when I was running from the cornucopia. I saw him run into the forest without anything._ I appluad the boy from District 8 who scored an 11, he's been able to make it this far without anything_. A cannon fires. _Oh, never mind._

I wake up the next morning and I know that I'm going straight to the cornucopia, because I have a dinner date with one of Panem's eligable bachelors, and one that is soon to be married. I feel like I should do something to show that Persia was my friend, and if I die people will always know. Over the mouth of the cave I carve in, "Here lies the friendship of Echo Ivy and Persia Ross, two mockingjays that seperated to soon."

I locate where the cornucopia might be from the top of the mountain, and I also see dark ominous clouds over it. I pull out some dried fruit, and some of the leftover soup that Akiliya had sent me two days ago. I start walking in the general direction of the cornucopia, and I pass a cave that I was positive wasn't there. This is where Artimis got shot by Derma, and where Artimis was cornered by the cliff wall. There was no huge cave behind us when we saved her. I hear low-pitch screeching voices from inside the cave, and I know what it is, a nest of Bellow Bats. I was once attacked by some in the 2nd free-for-all in the Elite's training ground. The arena was in an underground chasm. They're also Capitol Mutations.

These nasty little creature are bats that don't have eyes. but they can sense anything. Movement, breathing, heartbeats, etc. The edges of their wings can cut through skin, and they have screeches that are really low, so it's sort of like an explosion when they get together. These facts are enough for me to get ready to run when I hear their bellows beginning to get closer.

I start to run and I was right, they were coming out, and nothing I can do can keep them from sensing me. I see some getting closer to me and I can feel their wings slashing my back. I can see more trees, like the ones I found on the first day, and I can hear buzzing. A loud powerful buzzing, and from a cross two rows of trees, I see Excalibar running from Tracker Jackers. Tracker Jackers are the deadliest type of wasps/hornets in the world. Also Capital Mutations.

Chapter 14

He's jumping off fallen logs. I think that this is my chance to get rid of him, but if I attack him I'll have Tracker Jackers, and Bellow Bats on my tail. I see Excalibar uses a slingshot to distract the Tracker Jackers. I remember that I have my whistle, the one sent to me to get rid of the Noice Crackers. I find it in my pocket and struggle to get it in my mouth. Once it's in, I blow on it so hard, the Bellow Bats start to retreat quickly and I see that some of the Tracker Jackers are falling dead one by one.

I see Excalibar run towards me. I expect to be attacked, so I bring out the whip. He stops and quickly and catches his breath. "Echo...you're still alive!", he cheers and tries to get near me, but after being here for a week and a half, I'm not used to getting touched.

"Excalibar, what happened after you and Artimis seperated?" I say, still having the whip ready. He explains the story on how they got seperated by the rhinoca-bear. He says he soon meet up a couple times with Caston and they've been having fights with no big results. I tell him what had happened since he seperated from Artimis. He was distraught when I told him about Persia's death. After our conversation we agreed to team up until Caston was dead, and then we are free to turn our weapons on each other.

We walk to the cornucopia, and I see the spot where Juno was killed. I could still see the blood drenched grass from where I axed Issac in the head. If that's here, then I'm near the platform from where I started. Where I saw Sestra blow herself up. _I forgot the ball,_ I remember, that's why I came back, and met Persia, Excalibar, and Crimson. "Wait up a minute, Excalibar, I need to get something." I see a bush of flowers and I pick some. Excaliber follows me around the other platforms. I put a flower on each platform that belonged to the people who had died, except for Persia and Sestra, I put four on theirs. The platform that belonged to Sestra was still scorched.

Excalibar patted my back, and I let him, because I know I could've trusted him. I hear a loud roar, and I see Caston running towards us with his spear ready to throw. The roar didn't come from him or the Noise Crackers chasing him, which as soon as he started to go down to the cornucopia, stopped. We went straight down to end his life in this arena. Then I realize that that the roar came from the earth. It was an earthquake. The ground was opening around the cornucopia. I didn't know what to do it was just horrible. I couldn't stand at all, I was falling on all fours constantly. I see a crack in the floor opening up before me, so I know I have to get myself, and Excalibar across safely. I grab his arm and jump over the opening. We're going left and right trying to avoid the opening cracks in the earth below us. As soon as I reach the cornucopia, the earth's trembling seems to soften, and then fades away completely. It starts to drizzle, and the gray clouds above us start to crack with thunder.

We climb the cornucopia and meet Caston on the top. The earthquake was caused by the gamemakers, obviously. Excalibar instantly jumps on to Caston and they fight. I didn't know what to do. I told Excalibar to hold him down so I can kill Caston. "I'm trying!" he yelled out everytime. Then I got the bow and arrow in perfect position to hit Caston, but he sees me, and when I shoot the arrow, he tosses Excalibar in front of himself and I hear a low grunt come from him. The arrow pierced his heart. Caston pushes him off and he jumps on me. _This is it, Caston just won the 55th annual Hunger Games, the odds were always in his favor_, I thought as I saw my whole life in the arena flash before my eyes.

"I killed Persia, Urwin, Trenton, Lilia, and now I'm going to kill you!", he said. _What was with his team and mocking me?_

I can see that the sky above me is dark and I can see sparks in the cloud. I spit in his face and say, "I killed Jareda, Derma, Issac, Richest, and Nathine your kills aren't anything compared to mine!".

"I'm going to enjoy doing this!", he growls and he raises up the spear. I'm not down for the count though. He stabs it down into where I am, but I move my head, I push him off and I get up. I plunge one of Persia's arrows into his back. He shouts in pain but it's not enough to kill him. I grab Crimson's sword and drive it through his shoulder and pin him to the cornucopia. He refuses to die, so I pull a dagger out of Excalibar's pocket and pin his leg down to the cornucopia.

Caston screams out in pain, but he's still alive and cursing at me. I didn't know what else to do. I hear something beeping, I look up and see a parachute, and I see a rod with a spike for an end. It's for me. No note, but the side says it all, it's a lightning rod. I grab Excalibar and throw him over the side of the cornucopia making sure he lands on my pack that I threw done before him.

Caston is yelling, kicking and is trying to get detached from the cornucopia. It seems to be helping him because the dagger and the sword seem to wiggle out, but I did not come all this way, and lose all my friends, to lose. I grabbed the lightning rod and shout out, " Hey Caston, Persia's arrow, Crimson's sword, Excalibar's knife, and my lightning rod! Think of this as a reunion of parting friends!", and I push it into his right sholder and I make sure it finds its way through the cornucopia. He's stuck for sure. He realize's what I just did, and he starts to yell out, "Don't leave me to die this way! You bastard!".

I jump off and land on the packs. I pick them up and I carry Excalibar away from the cornucopia. I don't dare look back, when I hear the lightning hit, I hear Caston's scream for a short period, and zap, he was dead. Everything on the cornucopia went flying into the air, and his cannon fired.

I dragged Excaliber to his platform and I waited for him to die, because he was on the fast track to doing that. I sat next to him, and he started to talk. "Echo, If you win, tell Carmenella that I love her, now and forever."

"I will..", I look him in the eyes and say, then I wonder, _what does he mean by "If"_, and it hits me. Well, actually Excalibar stabs me.

Chapter 15

Excalibar just stabbed me in the stomach. I'm bleeding out quickly, so I look at him and I tell him what I've always thought of him. "Excalibar, you were my hero. I looked up to you, I saw you like a brother.", I started to choke, feeling the blood pouring out of my mouth.

"I'm sorry Echo, I have to go back and see Carmenella! I'm sorry for everything. Forgive me?", he says crying, with his face covered in blood stains. I remember saying that if I made it to the final two with Excalibar, I would give up my life so he can continue on. It makes sense, because out of all of us, Excalibar would probably be the best Elite. Then it would be Persia, Urwin, Crimson, and then me. I guess I'm going to stay true to what I said. Excalibar is going to win this, now I'm just going to close my eyes, slip away, and then meet up with all the other Elites in that better place people call death.

"I do.", these are my last words to him. When I look up I see that the spear that Caston tried to impale me with, is coming down with a lot of velocity. I see it land right next to me and in Excalibar. The cannon fires and I close his eyes. I start to sing safe and sound again because I know I'm going to die right know as well. I hear trumpets playing and Claudius Templesmith is saying something, everything is fading out to me, ao I can barely understand.

I fall back and I see that I'm being lifted into the sky by the hovercraft above me. _What's the use I'm already going to die, and if there's a chance of saving me, just let me die. All my friends are dead._ All I know is everything is fading away.

I wake up and find that I'm no longer in the arena. I'm on a table in what I think is a hospital. The door slides open and Akiliya walks in. She looks happy to see me. "Echo, congradulations! You won!", she says while hugging me.

"Wait, where's Sestra...and Excalibar...and Persia?", I look around hysterically to see if they're here and about to pop out and surprise me.

"Echo, don't you remember?", Akiliya sits down next to me. "They died...in the arena...with you."

"I died?"

"Only a matter of minutes, but they were able to revive you.", she explains.

"No, you're playing a trick on me, Persia and Excaliber are going to pop out of those curtains, huh? And Sestra...Sestra is probably home right now eating dinner with her family.", I run to the curtains and push them apart to see that no one is there. I see a window, I can see that I'm high up, because I can see towers and the top of buildings. I was still in the Capital. "If they're not there, then I'm guessing Sestra isn't back home in District 7. What happened, Akiliya?", my eyes tear up.

"You won the Hunger Games.", this statement alone answers all my questions, all my friends were dead. I get walked to the room where I lived in the week before the games. When I'm inside I realize that my wound might still be bleeding, I lift up my shirt but nothing is there. It's like the games had been wiped away from my physical appearence and some from my memory.

I take a shower, and I dress, I jump onto the bed. I start this weird mixture of laughing and crying. I start off by crying, and then it becomes a scene. I'm laughing just because I can. Everything becomes a joke to me. Seran comes rushing into the room, "What's the matter?", she says in her high-pitched voice.

"I just won the Hunger Games!", I say laughing with tears in my eyes. Later on that night I try going to sleep knowing what dreams and nightmares await me. I start to countdown the people who were in the arena with me to help me sleep.

_**District 1: Richest Wave**_

_**District 1: Crimson War**_

_**District 2: Excalibar Precense**_

_**District 2: Persia Ross**_

_**District 3: Darwin Bolt**_

_**District 3: Nessa Wire**_

_**District 4: Caston Segwada**_

_**District 4:**_ _**Jareda Asleen **_

_**District 5: Issac Stroid**_

_**District 5: Derma Majester**_

_**District 6: Nathine Galaghr**_

_**District 6: Caitlyn Calliton**_

_**District 7: Sestra Celenova**_

_**District 8: Trenton Venoose**_

_**District 8: Lilia Harvord**_

_**District 9: Alex Zecko**_

_**District 9: Clydessa Dardez**_

_**District 10: Urwin Carnivous**_

_**District 10: Kessie Firstina**_

_**District 11: Artimis Zing**_

_**District 11: Jason Zing**_

_**District 12: Jenten Mao**_

_**District 12: Juno Badge**_

I miss them all. I loved all of them, even though they turned evil in the games, it wasn't there fault. It was the Capital's fault for pinning us there against our will. _Pin!_ I got up and turn on the light, and searched for Persia's pin and my necklace, and there they were on the nightstand. I feel safe again, knowing that the two mockingjays were back together again. I held on to the pin, which to me symbolizes my best friend's spirit being with me.

I woke up the next day and was sent to my prep team, to be prepped for the presentation of the victor, which is me. They all start to cry, because they truly are happy to see me. They get me ready, and they send me off to the head stylist, Tigris. I practically run into the room and yell out, "Tigris, I'm ba-". It's not Tigris in the room, but Stone, Sestra's stylist. "Hello, Stone, where's Tigris?", I ask.

"She was fired, but she told me to give this to you if you won!", Stone says handing me an envelope. I take a card out, and it has a paw print as a design. I open the card and it says, "Congradulations, Echo. If you are reading this you've won the Hunger Games. Don't worry about me, but for now listen to Stone I left him a design made especially for you. It's simple, but it's something not a lot of designers do anymore, it's unique...like you. Good Luck, and I'll see you at the banquet for your sponsers. Love, Tigris".

I felt lucky to have known her and glad that I will see her again. "Let's do this Stone!", I say. He gets me prepared just as quick as Tigris did.

Chapter 16

"Ladies and Gentlemen! The winner of the 55th Annual Hunger Games...Echo Ivy!", Caesar Flickerman cheers on while I walk down the steps to my seat.

"Hello again, Caesar!" I say.

"Hello to you, too. As you know you've won the Hunger Games, that's one title on it's own, but you won a very special one. Do you know why?" he asks me, I can feel the cameras zoom in on me.

"Yes, because I beat every other Elite." I say nodding my head.

"Yes, what a smart boy you are. Now that means you're the best Elite in all of Panem. I mean your smart, compassionate, agile, strong, and really good looking!", the audience goes crazy, "Come on we got some clips, let's show him what we're talking about. We'll start out with agility.", a monitor shows a clip of me running from Crimson and doing a perfect jump over the fallen tree. "Now let's show him compassionate!", a clip of me helping Persia, and singing to Excalibar and her. "Now strong!" a clip of me breaking Jareda's neck, and killing Issac, Caston, Richest, and Derma. "let's move on to smart." It shows my final moments in the arena. Caston pinned to the cornucopia, and me "strategically" placing Excalibar on the platform where the spear later landed on him. "And good-looking...well your the one sitting in front of us!"

"Thank you, I appreciate it. Especially from a city filled with beautiful people!" Everyone applauds themselves. _Yeah, a city of stuck-up, self-centered..._Caesar interupts my train of thought, "You're also very talented. That singing, it was superb. Where did you learn to sing like that! And the song itself made me cry so much when you sang it to Persia! I almost cried all over myself and Claudius!", he laughs and so does the audience.

"Singing comes natural to me. It's probably heredity, my mother is just as good as me or even better. The song was taught to me by my mother and she was taught by her grandmother."

"Well can I ask you a couple a questions, is that okay?"

"You ask the questions you want!", I answer.

"Okay, How did you know where to put Excalibar so he could get killed by the spear?"

"Actually, I didn't know that would happen, I thought Excalibar would die on his own of the bleeding."

"Wow! So it was just fate that helped you win! It sounds like there is someone up there keeping an eye out for you!"

"I guess that there is, so many people wanted to help me win. It was either that or the odds were really in my favor.", I state and the crowd laughs.

"Yes, Persia and Sestra. Now tell me how did you feel when you saw Sestra...blow herself...sky high?"

"I felt like giving up on everything, like I should've stepped off the plate and blown myself up, but I knew there were people back home depending on me to return."

"How long did you know Persia?"

"Since our first training in the Elite Ground. I meet her while we were practicing in an old Beach Arena. We teamed up and got to the end, but we were knocked out. She really was my best friend."

After an hour of clips of me and answering questions we come to the conclusion. Caesar says "This our last question, are you ready?"

"Shoot..."

"How do you feel about all your friends that died in the arena?" cameras zoom in on me, and people all over are sitting on the edge of their chairs.

"That's not a hard question to answer," I start off saying, " I respected all of them. I loved them all. When it came down to it we were always a family, we could always depend on each other. I feel that they are the lucky ones. They are all in a better place. I remember that Persia told me to lean her against the tree so she could see her last sunset. To me that was the only beauty in this world, and I feel that every one of the Elites knew how to appreciate this beauty. Now everytime I see the sunset or sunrise I will always think of them, and the fun times we've had together. I will look at the sun and know that each of my friends is safe and sound."

_**The End**_


End file.
